Recovery
by hybrid2
Summary: Not everyone hero worships the people who defeated Ultimecia... Complete, with sequel and edited
1. Introduction to Recovery

Introduction to Recovery  
  
Don't let them scare you off, but I do have some original characters. Plus a kind of crossover/melded one. Because of this, I think I'll give you a little warning about them first. If you don't want to bother, go on to chapter one.  
  
~  
  
Name: Ariadne Kiroulous  
Age: 20  
Height: 5'3"  
Hair Color: Dark Brown  
Eye Color: Dark Green  
Birthday: August 20  
Weapon: Whip  
Garden of origin: Trabia  
Traits: She's fairly shy, doesn't usually warm up to a person until she's been around them for a few months. The only person she ever warmed up to immediately was Selphie because Selphie's just that kind of person. She fights well, but prefers not to use magic. Her family consists of her two parents and one younger brother.  
  
~  
  
Name: Maria Menendez  
Age: 22  
Height: 5'4"  
Hair Color: Dark Brown  
Eye Color: Brown  
Birthday: February 21  
Weapon: Twin Swords  
Garden of Origin: Galbadia  
Traits: Very serious about her job. Her hair is long enough to hang to the middle of her calves but that doesn't stop her from being one of the most dangerous people in missions that require slipping in and out of places unnoticed. She can be rude, but only to those who anger her in the first place. She also tends to use status-affecting magic. Her rather large family is made up of her parents, and four older brothers, an older sister, and two younger brothers.  
  
~  
  
Name: Xia Chou  
Age: 18  
Height: 5'  
Hair Color: Black  
Eye Color: Green  
Birthday: September 11  
Weapon: Bow and Arrow  
Garden of Origin: Trabia  
Traits: Considering that her family is one of the wealthiest in the world, one would think that she would be utterly spoiled. But she joined the Garden to get away from her family, and quickly learned how sheltered she had been. She's quite the perfectionist, and is always trying to help others, as long as they aren't trying to hurt anyone. She can fight, but she prefers magic. In fact, there are some around her that wonder why she didn't become a Sorceress.  
  
~  
  
Name: Edgar Rolf  
Age: 19  
Height: 5'10"  
Hair Color: Blonde  
Eye Color: Blue  
Birthday: April 20  
Weapon: Fists  
Garden of Origin: Trabia  
Traits: A very calm individual who also happens to be naïve. He'll believe the best of a person until they hurt him and then will try to say they only did it because they had no choice. It takes a lot to rile him, but once he does lose his temper, things start mysteriously getting destroyed. Even he doesn't know why or how. His family consists of one older sister.  
  
~  
  
Name: Lynn Moire  
Age: 25  
Height: 5'3"  
Hair Color: Red  
Eye Color: Brown  
Birthday: March 17  
Weapon: Staff  
Garden of Origin: Galbadia  
Traits: Impetuous, rash, violent, and very sensitive about his name, he and his staff are never seen far from one another. It is the only memento he has of his grandfather, the only one of his relatives to show any real affection for him. He's not very good with any magic that doesn't cause immediate damage. He has three older brothers and a younger sister, but hasn't seen either them or his parents in years, since his desire to become a SeeD got him disinherited. It suits him just fine.  
  
~  
  
Name: Eric Fairechilde  
Age: 32  
Height: 6'5"  
Hair Color: White  
Eye Color: Amber  
Birthday: July 4  
Weapon: Claws  
Garden of Origin: Galbadia  
Traits: His friends are showered with affection, and his enemies quickly wish for death. If a person has the dire misfortune of falling from the former category and into the latter, their life will ever be miserable. He had a wife, but she died when Ultimecia nearly destroyed Galbadia Garden, and his three-year-old daughter lives with his parents; he has no siblings.  
  
~  
  
(Crossover/meld from Shining Force)  
Name: Max Tyler  
Age: 18?  
Height: 6'1"  
Hair Color: Auburn  
Eye Color: Dark blue  
Birthday: April 30  
Weapon: Any  
Garden of Origin: Trained in all, but graduated from none  
Traits: Very secretive. Very quiet. All anyone has managed to get him to speak of in his past is that he had a brother and a nephew once.  
  
~  
  
~When I Gave Xia her birthday, I was not thinking about the implications of it. Nor did I realize that I'd given Lynne the same birthday as Zell. Eric's birthday was a conscious decision though.~ 


	2. The Break Ends

~When returning from a three-month vacation, this one is required to reread for continuity, coherency, and minor edits. *Grinning* It does have the added effect of returning the story to visibility, which I have no problems with at all.~  
  
~  
  
"...And then Time Compression ended," the blonde instructor finished her lecture.  
  
~How kind of Quistis to leave out the part where Cid and Edea decided to spend six months 'getting to know one another again,' leaving us kids in charge. Thankfully, the others realized that I was fully intending to disappear off the face of the planet if they left me to the job by myself. So rather than a single Commander or Headmaster, there were five of us.~  
  
Quistis, noticing the unannounced audience, looked at the time display on her computer monitor. "All right everyone, I want you to read the next chapter; 'Genealogy of a Sorceress,' by next meeting. Class dismissed."  
  
As the students rushed out of the room, Quistis shook her head, "With the way those students left," she muttered under her breath, "Well, Squall, what is it now? Has Rinoa calling been driving you mad? Or is Zell bouncing around making you want to-"  
  
"Headmaster Cid requires our presence," the black-clad man turned and left the room, almost as hurriedly as the students she'd just released.  
  
"Expand on the 'our,' if you will," Quistis trotted to keep up, though she wasn't much shorter.  
  
"The others are already there," Squall responded, stepping into the elevator, "He has a new job for us."  
  
"What is there left to do?" Quistis followed him, "I mean, it's not like there is anything worse than a temporally insane Sorceress, is there?"  
  
"I know as much as you do," Squall shrugged.  
  
The two stood in silence as the elevator lifted to their destination. The doors pinged open to reveal a room crowded with people.  
  
Sitting on the dark brown rug was a blonde man who looked up from adjusting his gloves. The nearby chair held an auburn haired man in a tan coat and a brown haired girl in a yellow outfit.  
  
Behind the desk sat an older man in a dark brown vest. A mid height woman stood just behind his chair, leaning on it and smiling gently, "Hello, children," she greeted, "It is good to see you again."  
  
"Well," the man sitting at the desk began, pushing his glasses back up his nose, "I suppose you want me to fill you in on the details of your mission."  
  
"That would be nice," Squall drawled, leaning against the doorjamb.  
  
~  
  
~Just fixing minor things. My new comments will be in between squiggles of their own.~ 


	3. Esthar Garden

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the characters so far, but the ones in the introduction (excluding Max) are my creations. I even have pictures of them!  
  
~  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"To start with," Cid rubbed one side of his nose with one index finger, "I need you to locate two former SeeD candidates. You all know one of them; he'll be easier to find. The last I heard, he'd settled in Balamb, after finally passing his field exam and then resigning almost immediately after."  
  
"The other never bothered to graduate," Edea continued her husband's explanation, "he refused to specialize in any weapon, so he was not allowed to take the finalized courses of your training. Before leaving though, he learned how to wield any available weapon in Garden."  
  
"These are the files of all of the people who will assist you in your mission," Cid handed Zell, who was nearest, a group of files, "There are six others involved; three from Galbadia Garden, and three from Trabia Garden."  
  
"Just who are they?" Zell had opened one of the files, and handed the rest to Irvine who took a file as well. The files made their way around the room, leaving Squall with four files in his hands.  
  
"How long ago did he disappear?" Quistis asked as she read the file in her hands.  
  
"Eleven months ago," Cid folded his hands in front of him on the desk.  
  
"And you're sure he wishes to be found?" Squall raised an eyebrow, closed one file, and opened another.  
  
"No, we're not completely certain he wants to be found," Edea admitted, "but we still have to find him, as we suspect he may have gotten mixed in with the Ultimecia mess."  
  
"You 'suspect?' As in, you're not sure?" Selphie looked up from her file, "What do you mean? You were there, weren't you, Matron?"  
  
"Please call me Edea," she shook her head, "It is rather odd to have fully grown SeeD's calling the former Sorceress bent on destroying the world, 'Matron.'"  
  
"Get used to it," Zell grinned, "No one holds it against you, they've all figured out that you weren't really yourself. I mean, they certainly don't hold your status as a Sorceress against you or Rinoa, so..."  
  
"I suppose," Edea shook her head slightly, "but the reason I'm not sure is as you said, I wasn't exactly myself. There were times when I had no control over my thoughts or actions, and found myself with blank spots in my mind that I'm sure have no connection to the Guardian Forces' influence on memories."  
  
"Oh," Selphie paused, "Just why are we collecting people?"  
  
Cid coughed, "Well, all three Gardens have agreed that Esthar needs a Garden of their own for their own citizens, now that they've opened themselves up to the rest of the world. The president agreed to let us construct one near enough to Esthar that students wouldn't be in too much danger as they traveled back and forth. Of course, he stipulated that fourteen SeeDs would be necessary to start the Garden at the very least, and he also named who he wanted to be the primary instructors."  
  
"So the five of us, plus the six from the other two Gardens, Siefer, and this other guy are who he asked for?" Irvine drawled, "but why'd he ask for that other guy if he never graduated from a Garden?"  
  
"We're not sure," Cid shrugged, "he looked at the records independently, and told us who was going to be allowed in the structure to begin with, and when we told him that Max had never taken a field exam, Loire just shrugged and said, 'So?' So we have to find the man."  
  
"We have to look for a guy none of us has ever seen, get Siefer to help us, work with six other total strangers, travel to Esthar, and start the teaching process to who knows how many SeeD candidates? By ourselves?!" Quistis seemed on the edge of panicking.  
  
"Exactly," Cid was oblivious to her distress all the same.  
  
"What am I going to do about the classes I'm already teaching?" Quistis snapped.  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Cid waved nonchalantly at her, "I'll teach it for you, until the next SeeD that gets their instructor's license comes through."  
  
"Speaking of licenses," Zell stood, cracked his neck on both sides, and tossed the file he'd been reading to Cid's desk, "what about ours? Quistis is the only one among us who has one and I don't know about the six SeeDs from the other Gardens, but I doubt Siefer bothered to get one before he resigned, and the other one never graduated to become qualified to even try for one. So..."  
  
"Well," Cid frowned, "We asked about that as well, and Laguna just said that you were all meant to be the starting crew, and by the time there are going to be enough students for you all to teach, you'll have your licenses."  
  
"And if we don't want them?" Squall folded his arms over his chest.  
  
"You've already got yours, Squall," Cid looked up, "We decided that since you were definitely not ever going to try for one under your own power, you would get one without trying."  
  
"Somehow, that makes no sense at all," Selphie groaned, "and yet makes all the sense in the world."  
  
"You remember the paper work you went through as Headmaster?" Edea held up a sheaf of paper work."  
  
Squall nodded with a sinking feeling in his stomach.  
  
"A good portion of that was what potential instructors sign to gain their status," she waved one hand slightly, "and you also had to sign it to be able to take on the role you did, even temporarily. The same goes for most of the rest of you."  
  
"WHAT!!!!!!!????" Zell yelped at the top of his lungs, causing more than a few winces.  
  
"You are already classified at instructor level," Cid reiterated, "just not as activated instructors. But I changed that this morning. So go and meet your new co-workers. The six other SeeDs are in the cafeteria, waiting for you."  
  
~  
  
~I've kept meaning to fix the minor things that were wrong, but I was never going to actually do it, until I realized I had to reread what I'd written to be able to continue writing it with any real level of ability. So, now I'm having fun.~ 


	4. New Faces

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. Let me know if you wanna see pics :) Max isn't mine either, but he has been modified enough that he might not necessarily be the same. ;)  
Max: Somehow I'm not comfortable with this...  
  
  
~  
  
  
Chapter 3  
  
  
Walking through the doors to the cafeteria at first seemed like normal. The group expected to have to actively look for the six strange people, but that was found to be unnecessary after about three seconds in the doors.  
  
A rapidly moving blur of brown, lavender, and light yellow bee lined for Selphie. After colliding with her, the blur solidified into a girl no taller than Selphie, possibly shorter, who wore a lavender dress with light yellow lining. Her dress was slit up the sides all the way from the floor to her hips, revealing medium brown pants. Her dark brown hair hung down her back till it reached her hips, where it formed a braid until the backs of her knees.  
  
"Oh Selphie it's so good to see you! I missed you! Really so did Sha and Eddie and we're sorry we couldn't see you sooner but the Garden was blown up and we were out investigating the Chocobo Forest when it happened and so we survived and were able to become SeeDs after you and your new friends beat that funny time witch lady, and then we got word that we could come here to talk to you since we'd all be working together in the new Garden in Esthar, so we all rushed here, and we're all really happy, but these other three people are kinda strange aren't they? I mean the one's a grumpy-" she was cut off by a very short woman with brown almost black hair who quietly walked up.  
  
"Ariadne," she set a hand on the girl's shoulder, "please calm down. I'm not certain if Selphie even understood a word you said past her name."  
  
"Yeesh," a red-headed man blinked rapidly, "That's the most she's said since we all got here!"  
  
"Ari's shy," a blonde man sitting at a table with another brown haired woman and a white haired man shrugged, "the only reason she spoke at all is that she's missed Selphie. Usually it takes months for her to warm up enough to talk at all around folks, but Selph's the exception, because she's just that kind of a person."  
  
"It's nice to see you too Edgar," Selphie grinned as she bear-hugged both Ariadne and the shorter woman, "You too Sha."  
  
"Will you introduce us all?" the woman addressed smiled slightly, she knew who she was talking to. She was likely to not only get introductions, but stood a good chance at getting life stories.  
  
"Well," this tall guy behind me, in the hat, is Irvine Kinneas. The blonde guy is Zell Dincht, the blonde girl is Quistis Trepe, and the other guy is Squall Leonhart. Guys, these are my friends from Trabia. The guy is Edgar Rolf, the girl who set of at a hundred kilometers a second is Ariadne Kiroulous, and the other woman is Sha Cho."  
  
"Well," Quistis turned slightly pink and looked at the file in her hands, "I'm glad you've pronounced her name, because otherwise I would have guessed to say her name was Zeeah Chow."  
  
"That is the usual assumption," the woman nodded slightly, "I have learned to deal with it over the course of my life," she smiled, "Thankfully, it has never really bothered me. At least people try."  
  
"What about the other three?" Zell pointed at the red head, the woman and the man with the white hair.  
  
"Instructors, Maria Menendez, Lynne Moire, and Eric Fairechilde," Irvine nodded to all three in turn, "They were the instructors that volunteered me for the mission that got me tangled up with the rest of you."  
  
"So," Quistis looked at the three from Trabia, "You all are instructors as well?"  
  
Ariadne nodded. Edgar shrugged, and Xia rolled her eyes, "We all got our licenses just before coming here."  
  
"Your files say you're twenty and nineteen," Zell addressed Ariadne and Edgar, "But usually a person isn't allowed to try to become a SeeD unless they're under eighteen."  
  
Edgar rifled a hand through his hair, "I'd just turned nineteen the day after we qualified, and Ari's excused because she was put in a coma for about a year and a half due to a training accident. The Garden staff felt that was extenuating circumstances enough, so they waived the usual rules for her."  
  
"You all have been filled in on all the details?" Quistis asked.  
  
"We know more about the mission than you, probably," the redhead stood, picking up the staff that had been sitting under the table, showing himself to be the same height as Ariadne.  
  
"Geez," Zell groaned, "Why are we the last to know?"  
  
"Because they probably realized that you would be against the idea," the white-haired man stood as well.  
  
"So shall we look for this Max?" the dark haired woman in a periwinkle shirt and purple pants stood and walked to the door of the cafeteria.  
  
"Can we get something to eat first?" Zell pleaded, with his growling stomach acting in unison.  
  
~  
  
  
I know I misspelled her name, but I did it to exemplify the phonetic pronunciation of her name, and the fact that it would normally be mispronounced. From here on, her name will be spelled Xia Chou. I'm also still being vague with the other three since two of the names are ambiguous (for those that didn't read the intro and the characters) and may bring about a bit of fun when someone mistakenly calls 'Maria,' 'Lynn,' or something like that.  
~I don't want to change too much, since this one is complete, and I really don't want to ruin the story, but I'm also trying to figure out how to be more descriptive with it. Oh well.~ 


	5. Seifer Saved Them the Trouble of Looking

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. Let me know if you wanna see pics :) I realized after I posted the last chapter that I was trying to ignore Seifer, and I felt bad, (I think I may also have gotten beaned, but...) so I'm going to fix that now.  
  
~  
  
  
Chapter 4  
  
  
After finishing his food, Zell blinked rapidly and reminded the others of other obligations, "You know, we're all so worried about finding Max, but we were supposed to get Seifer to join us first, and frankly, I think that's gonna be the hard one."  
  
"How do you suppose that?" Edgar leaned back in his chair slightly.  
  
"Well," Zell hesitated, "Seifer doesn't exactly like any of us, and with the way we've always behaved around one another, it's kinda obvious that we don't like him much either."  
  
"It's at least part of the reason why he turned to being the Sorceress' Knight," Quistis frowned, "But I'm amazed that you Galbadians don't hate him. His actions damaged your Garden, killing who knows how many of your friends and family in the process."  
  
The white haired man flinched, "There were fewer fatalities than were guessed. Most people who were not there assumed that most of the students and SeeDs of Galbadia were killed, but we were not so foolish. Only a handful actually perished. Among them was my wife, Theresa."  
  
"Woah," Selphie gasped, "You were married? That makes you older than you look, doesn't it?"  
  
"Eric is the oldest person among us, and will be the most senior SeeD in the new Garden," the female from Galbadia pushed her chair back, "But he is still younger than all three of the current Headmasters."  
  
A passing student snickered, "I can't believe that a GUY was named Lynne!"  
  
The redhead bounced straight out of his chair, and chased the youth out of the cafeteria, his staff swinging madly.  
  
"Um," Selphie pointed in that general direction, "What's with him?"  
  
"Lynne has a temper," Eric grimaced, "He seems to think he has to hold true to the superstitions with his hair, and he's also rather sensitive about his name. No one can ask him how he came to be named 'Lynne' without him swinging at their head with that staff. And he NEVER goes anywhere without it. Not even if he's dead off his ass drunk."  
  
"You'd think his family either didn't like him or really wanted him to be able to defend himself," Zell shook his head quietly, "I guess it's the latter, with the way he goes."  
  
"Actually, my family hated me with a passion," the redhead had returned, "by the time I was born, my family already had three sons, and both my parents' siblings had only had boys as well. Everyone was ready for a girl to be born, so they took to checking the genders of future babes with oracles. The one they consulted decided I would be female. You know the result. They never forgave me. Except for my grandfather. Who'd never believed the oracle in the first place, and didn't care that he only ever got one granddaughter before he died."  
  
"Um," Selphie bit her lip nervously, "I take it we stay away from the subject of families around you three, right?"  
  
"Actually," Maria grinned, "We can talk about mine all we like. In fact we could spend days just trying to get through the details of my immediate family alone, and still not get through to my younger siblings. Besides, my mother and father adopted these two, so it's not so bad."  
  
"Huh?" Seplhie scratched her head, "your parents adopted two adults?"  
  
"Not actually," Maria laughed, "Madre just calls them two more sons of her heart. And Papa tries every once in a while to keep them from dating women he doesn't approve of."  
  
"No kidding," Lynne grimaced, "I'd never had someone try to tell me a girl wasn't good enough for me before. After laughing at him for ten minutes straight, I figured out he was serious. He had me chopping wood for a few hours."  
  
"Somehow... I think our speaking of him... has produced him from thin air," Xia hesitated, "I have seen the file pictures of him, but correct me if I am wrong. That big blonde man in the doorway, the one with the scar across his nose; that is Seifer, right?"  
  
"Yup," Zell stood slowly from his chair, "It might be a good idea to stand up, folks, Seifer has a tendency to think it hilarious to pull chairs out from under people's rear ends."  
  
The man in question finished looking through the room, searching for something, and focused on the group of now completely standing men and women. He raised an eyebrow at that discovery, then grinned wide enough to almost split his face open. He walked toward them, and as he got closer, he commented, "I guess you still remember the lesson I taught you, eh, Zell?"  
  
Blinking twice at the use of his proper name rather than some insult or another, Zell merely nodded.  
  
"Come now," Seifer snorted, "I've grown up since then. I still like to heckle, but I'm not gonna do that right now. You can all relax and sit back down. I just want to know what Cid thinks he's doing sending me a message saying I might want to return to Garden and visit with old friends. I didn't have any friends here."  
  
"Whose fault was that?" Zell rolled his eyes, "You can't blame anyone for not liking you when you seemed to go out of your way to be unlikable."  
  
"Didn't stop anyone from liking Squall and he was more antisocial than I ever had been," Seifer smirked.  
  
"So why did you investigate?" Squall glanced at the eighth file in his hand, "Or is there something you aren't telling us?"  
  
"Well," Seifer nodded slightly, "Kinda. I was told that I'd been made an instructor of the Esthar Garden, and normally, I'd take it as a joke. I mean, 'Esthar Garden?' That's about as likely as Squall winning the Miss Congeniality prize. But then I read whom my co-workers were, and was puzzled. I don't remember any 'Max Tylers' graduating in any of my attempts. So I decided to ask about him. What's with an ungraduated SeeD candidate being given instructor status?"  
  
"So you KNOW him?" Quistis yelped.  
  
"Nah," Seifer smirked, "I didn't know him, never heard of him prior to reading that message. But I do have to wonder how a SeeD candidate could attend all three Gardens, and not be noticed by ANY of the students."  
  
"No kidding," Selphie grimaced, "How could we miss anyone as cute as him?"  
  
"Selphie!" Xia yelped, "Think about something other than how cute he is!"  
  
"You gotta admit it though!" Selphie giggled, and practically shoved the file in Xia's face.  
  
"You are just partial to guys with that color of hair," Xia laughed, "Your infatuation with Irvine Kinneas is proof of that."  
  
"Aw," Irvine pretended to be hurt, "An' here I thought she actually liked me."  
  
"Shouldn't we try to find him?" Maria rolled her eyes at their antics, "Since Almasy is here to work with us-"  
  
"Who said anything about my going with you?" Seifer snorted, "I'm not gonna do something as stupid as that. I ain't no instructor!"  
  
"Actually, you are," Cid made everyone of the group jump slightly as he entered the cafeteria, "When you graduated, we'd already begun negotiations with Laguna Loire, and he'd already stipulated you as one of the required instructors, so among your paperwork were the tests and essays that instructors have to pass."  
  
"And they say becoming an instructor is hard," Seifer snorted, "I didn't even notice."  
  
Quistis fumed quietly as Selphie asked a question that had been bothering her for a while, "Why us? How were our files among the names he had to choose from?"  
  
"Well, as to the second question," Cid paused, "We included all SeeDs and candidates that hadn't expressed a distinct dislike for moving or for Esthar, and as for the second, you'd be better off asking him."  
  
"Really gives you the feeling that just anyone could be an instructor now," Lynne muttered under his breath.  
  
"Yeah," Seifer countered, "They let you become one, didn't they?"  
  
Lynne growled, "At least I actually have experience in teaching! You don't have a clue what you're in for! There are too few students out there who genuinely want to learn. The rest are like banging your head up against the wall. Painful, and unproductive!"  
  
"I knew that already!" Seifer laughed.  
  
"Yeah," Zell grinned. He rarely got an opportunity like this, "You were one of the latter!"  
  
This startled a laugh from almost everyone there. Seifer was just startled, while Cid rolled his eyes, and Squall merely smirked.  
  
"Well," Cid coughed, "Seifer, you may have resigned, but it is requested that you accompany the SeeDs, and teach the children of Esthar."  
  
"What good would that do?" Seifer grumped, "It's not like we don't have enough mercenaries in the world already."  
  
"But there is no representation for Esthar," Cid countered, "And that made many of the citizens uneasy. They felt it would be awkward to have no protection of their own. This way, we are all protected by having SeeDs native to our countries."  
  
"Not to mention the possibilities for infiltration purposes," Squall stood away from the table he'd leaned against, "Should we ever have to."  
  
"I'd rather not think about that," Xia shuddered.  
  
"So," Cid looked sadly around the group, "I suggest that you all go to your rooms and change into your uniforms. You might get a better reception from the last instructor if you greet him in them."  
  
"Wait a minute!" Seifer growled, "I don't want any part of this!"  
  
"Seifer," Edea stormed into the room, and stared at him, "Please, if nothing else, do this as a favor to me. I'm genuinely worried about Max. He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet."  
  
"I don't think there's any point in looking for him," Seifer mumbled, "You won't find him."  
  
~  
  
~And I just realized that I not only forgot about the uniforms, but somehow, Edea actually seems to know him, though no one else does... Hrm... My very own plot hole that means absolutely nothing~ 


	6. When all The Guardians Call

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. Let me know if you wanna see pics :) I'm trying to keep Max from seeming overly important, but I don't think that's working, so I may have to come up with some evil plan to fix that.  
Max: now I'm really getting scared.  
  
~Maybe I should reread this more often... I didn't realize Seifer was such a potty mouth. ~  
  
~  
  
Chapter 5  
  
  
"And why is that?" Quistis planted her hands on her hips, "Do you know what happened to him?"  
  
"No," Seifer grumbled, "But if he's gone almost a year without anyone knowing where he went to, don't you think he's got himself good and hid? Besides that, Ultimecia got pissed with him and flung him to the far reaches of time."  
  
"Really?" Maria gasped, "What the heck did he do to deserve that? And I thought you'd never met him!"  
  
"I was kidding," Seifer groaned, "I never saw him, but Raijin and Fuujin sometimes mentioned some person that really pissed Ultimecia off, and they said she would repeatedly beat the hell out of him using magic, so I kinda figured you guys would give up if you thought it was him."  
  
"Seifer," Selphie shook her head, "You know more than you're letting on."  
  
"Let's just say I've done some research after getting that nice letter that said I was going to work with the lot of you in Esthar," Seifer rubbed his scar, "And it looked like he and the president of Esthar didn't get along too well."  
  
"So why would he want Max as one of the instructors?" Eric puzzled aloud, "Unless he was pulling some elaborate kind of trap, and we're going to get pinned for it as well."  
  
"Perhaps Max was antagonistic towards Adel, and the books don't have it recorded properly," Cid suggested tentatively.  
  
"Adel was last active almost twenty years ago," Eric snorted, "When I was still a teen. I doubt he was even alive to have pissed her off."  
  
Cid coughed, "Don't be so sure," and walked away, with Edea on his arm.  
  
"What the hell?" Zell's eyes widened, "Is he tryin' to say that this Max person is a lot older than his file says?"  
  
"Well," Lynne leaned on his staff, "He was listed as fifteen when he first joined Galbadia Garden nine years ago... Maybe even that was wrong."  
  
"The file lists his age as 'eighteen years in appearance,' but doesn't get concrete," Squall read directly from the file in question, "It's also really vague about his family, his past, and any behavior issues instructors had with him. All it says about that is, 'well-behaved, but stubborn; refuses to specialize; too strong to spar with other cadets,' and there's also a reference to 'undocumentable magic use without Guardians Junctioned.' Any ideas as to what that meant?"  
  
"Could he be a Sorcerer?" Quistis toyed with a fragment of her bangs, "After all, the tradition is that someone who can use magic without the GF's is a 'Sorceress,' but wouldn't a male be called a 'Sorcerer?' But I do have to wonder about the 'undocumented' part."  
  
Reading over Squall's shoulder, Seifer commented on one more piece of questionable information, "It says something about a strange 'bond with the Forces,' that he 'seems to have instantaneous full compatibility with all of them, and can locate any at will, even if they are already Junctioned.' Wonder if the reverse can also be true..."  
  
"That's an idea!" Selphie jumped at the suggestion, "Maybe we should try finding him with one of the Guardian Forces!"  
  
"What's the guarantee it would work?" Irvine tipped his hat back a bit, "I mean, look at it like this, he can sense them, and would know if a bunch of them were comin' closer to him all at once, right? So wouldn't it go to say, that he'd know we were comin'? Not to mention that he's got full compatibility with them all, so who's to say they'll even want to tell us?"  
  
"Wouldn't they want to know where he is too?" Edgar wrinkled his forehead, "I mean, if they like him, wouldn't they want to see him again?"  
  
"Well," Maria rolled her eyes, "There's only one way to find out. But you all already have all of the Guardians."  
  
"Not really," Squall shook his head, "We have allied with Gilgamesh, Odin is dead, and Phoenix is completely wild. Not to mention that Tiamat is out there somewhere as well."  
  
"Hmm," Xia closed her eyes and tipped her head back in thought, "I wonder."  
  
"What?" Selphie yelped, "What are you wondering about?"  
  
"I'm wondering if we could possibly get Gilgamesh and Phoenix to wander about the world with a few of the others, of course we'll have to have released them, so that their signals are sufficiently mixed up, so that he might not be able to tell that the lot of us are headed directly for him. That's if the Forces will even help us in such a way."  
  
"We might want to go ahead and get to the Ragnarok," Quistis suggested, "There is a map there, so if we can get their assistance, we can make it easier to locate him."  
~*~  
  
"There are easily enough of them for each of us," Zell pointed out, "D'you think we should give one to the others?"  
  
"For their safety," Squall nodded, "Unless you do not wish to carry one with you."  
  
"I have no problem with it," Lynne snorted, "Maybe the memory loss will actually help me."  
  
"I would rather not," Xia shrugged, "But, to use magic, I should."  
  
"Okay," Ariadne whispered.  
  
"Nope," Edgar waved a hand in negation, "Don't want one, don't need one. I'd only piss the critter off."  
  
"Yeah," Selphie giggled, "He repeatedly failed the tests when we were learning how to Junction one to ourselves back in Trabia. Couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the idea of them actually being in his head!"  
  
"It almost makes you think he actually has something to hide," Xia grinned, joining in on the joke.  
  
"Hey!" Edgar blushed a vivid red, "I just don't like things popping up in my head, all right? Geesh."  
  
"That defensiveness suggests that you have something to hide," Eric raised an eyebrow, "Frankly, I don't care what it is. If it is a danger to us-"  
  
"No," Edgar was even redder, "It's nothing like that! Don't worry."  
  
"Enough with the teasing," Quistis giggled slightly through her admonishment, "What about you Eric?"  
  
"No thanks," he shook his head, "I will take one when we are genuinely in need of all the available magic. Until then, there is no use."  
  
"Well," Zell shivered slightly after everyone had rearranged themselves, "Should we start trying to get them to talk to us?"  
  
"Why don't you or Squall try?" Selphie pointed at the two men, "I mean, you have the best relations with your respective Guardians, they might be willing to try at least."  
  
~There is no need.~  
  
"What the?!" Lynne yelped, "Who the-"  
  
~You ask for assistance, I will provide it.~  
  
"Gilgamesh?" Selphie asked in a tiny voice. Seifer flinched.  
  
~We have had no contact with him for quite some time.~~  
  
"And who are you?" Xia looked wildly around the room, though neither voice had a body to show their presence.  
  
"The second one is Odin," Zell blinked, "But I thought-"  
  
~I believe the phrase is, 'It is harder to kill a god than that.'~  
  
"Why are you here?" Squall closed his eyes.  
  
~~You requested aid.~~  
  
~We will provide.~  
  
"Where is Max?" Quistis had also closed her eyes.  
  
~The last known location of the last Sorceress is where he rests.~  
  
~~The door will open when all Guardians call.~~  
  
~  
  
  
I don't know where those two came from...  
~Has anyone caught on to the anime reference in there? I realized what it was when I reread it, but actually this editing thing is kind of fun, if you ignore that you're rewriting...~ 


	7. A Firebird's Anxiety

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. Let me know if you wanna see pics :)   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 6  
  
  
The abandoned castle stood alone in the hills of Cetra Island. Beyond the ruins, and hidden by cliff tops and peaks, not even the natives of the continent knew that it stood there. After all, it hadn't always been there. In fact, only after the Ultimecia conflict did it appear...  
  
The walls reached as high as before, competing with the clouds, not only in color, but also for placement in the atmosphere. The huge oaken doors sat closed at the moment, apparently rotting of old age. The building gave off an atmosphere of extreme age. Though it seemed ancient, it was new. Though it originated from the future, it existed in the past...  
  
Within the building the ornate staircases continued to rot and decay as well. It seemed as though this new building would collapse into mold if it were so much as breathed upon. The rugs looked bloodstained, but were that same, even hue all throughout. The paintings on the walls actually could follow you with their eyes, and some even attacked unwary passersby. Of course, there were no people walking these halls. The only inhabitant was hidden in the deepest depths, the reason for its continued existence as an anachronism lie unconscious, sleeping in the dark room that haunts the minds of the leading SeeDs of Balamb Garden.  
  
Standing watch like a demented mother hen, was the winged antonym of Bahamut. Tiamat crouched low over his prone form, her wingspan acting as a flesh shield against anything that may arrive. Secondary in protection, acting more as a doorwoman, was the wild Guardian, Greiver. She prowled just beyond the threshold, growling every so often at any creatures that were foolish enough to even look as though they were headed for the doors behind her.  
  
The Guardian that occasionally assisted the dying, and the dead flew overhead. Frantically, the firebird searched; waiting for the signal the others had vowed to give. Its anxiety mounting, the bird called shrilly out to its brethren.  
  
~When will you bring them? Why do you wait? Can't you see that we have not all of time?~  
  
~~*~~  
  
  
  
Much as I like the ending and the suspense, (not to mention the teamwork) I can't help but wonder why he's turning out so important... Wonder if I should switch all occurrences of 'Max' with Rinoa... Nahh. Never really liked her. She'll show up somewhere, but I'm not too sure it'll be in a nice way.  
  
Oh yeah, I'm not sure what's making things so urgent. I do, after all write these things by the seat of my pants. ;) Can't you see the pocket marks? XP 


	8. Grandfather's Gift

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. Let me know if you wanna see pics :) I discovered recently that I have a muse, and we're adjusting to one another, so it could get rocky...  
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 7  
  
  
Following the rather shocking revelations of the two normally most reticent Guardians, things calmed down for a while. After all, it couldn't get any stranger, right?  
  
Wrong.  
  
Upon landing on the continent of Cetra, where their best guesses led them, their minds were assaulted with a panic-stricken mind call:  
  
~When will you bring them? Why do you wait? Can't you see that we have not all of time?~  
  
All of the humans flinched. The mind voice had the likelihood of being pleasant under normal circumstances, but at that point, it had been quite shrill and painful, rather like metal dragged along glass.  
  
Wondering whether or not to brace for another, they all glanced at one another, and quietly attempted to speak with the Guardians in their minds.  
  
Nothing. It was as if they had all left abruptly the instant that call broadcast. There were no Guardian Forces even present in their minds. Which left the group totally without magic: whether it be recovery, attacking, or defensive...  
  
"They left us?" Lynne started looking wildly around the group, "In the middle of the most dangerous continent, the third most dangerous landmass in the world, they leave us utterly and completely without magic. If I could get my hands on them..."  
  
"You'd lose the fight before you even took two breaths," Zell rolled his eyes, "Because the only ones who join without fights are gone too. We'd have to fight one of them without magic of any kind."  
  
"Which leaves us fighting without any real ability to use items either," Quistis nodded.  
  
"Man, I ain't crazy enough to try that," Lynne growled, "I just hate being left out to fry like this."  
  
"Where could they have gone?" Maria looked at the mountains surrounding them, "There's nothing here; we're way too far south for any inhabitants. There are no buildings, no structures of any kind any where around."  
  
"About half an hour's walk is where Ultimecia's castle was when we were in Time Compression," Squall pointed toward a group of plateaus, "If we head that direction, we might find something. They did say that he was where Ultimecia had her castle..."  
  
"But how are we gonna get there?" Lynne looked around, "The Ragnarok can't land there, and it ain't safe to walk. We'll get slaughtered by the critters between here and the foothills!"  
  
"Not really," Zell grinned, "You've got five combat experienced SeeDs, one SeeD with combat experience from before he reached SeeD level, and five other SeeDs with brains. I think that between the eleven of us, we can protect you."  
  
"Boys," Xia stepped between the red haired man and his tormentor, "We need to get going, not to get fighting. If we encounter monsters, there are twelve of us, we should do fine, as long as we don't get huge waves of them."  
  
"Xia, did you have to say something like that?" Selphie winced, "Now I know we're gonna get mugged. She always says something like, 'we'll be okay as long as,' something doesn't happen, and the something always does."  
  
"Well," Eric laughed slightly, "let's get going, maybe, if we're lucky, we can stand up to the droves of monsters that are imminent. Even with you worry-warts along as well."  
  
"Not everyone loves fighting, Eric," Maria scolded lightly, "Some of us prefer to not have to wash blood, guts, and gore from our hair."  
  
"Cut it, and it won't be so bad," Eric snorted lightly, "After all, you also complain a lot about having to comb it."  
  
"Yup," Seifer laughed, "They act like siblings all right, bickering like a brother and his sister."  
  
"So?" Maria rolled her eyes, "Didn't I tell you that my parents had adopted them?"  
  
Teasing and bickering playfully, some of the twelve travelers learned to get along with one another quite well. A few minor fights broke out, but were quickly negotiated so that only one or two punches were thrown. They had almost reached the base of the plateaus when three Marlboros walked out of the crevices.  
  
"Oh, great, as if getting attacked weren't enough," Lynne clutched his staff tight enough to make his knuckles go white, "It had to be the smelliest, ugliest creatures alive!"  
  
"Nah," Seifer smirked, "Zell's on our side!"  
  
Zell rushed at Seifer, much to his, and everyone else's surprise, with a fist cocked to all but knock his head off. At the last second, Zell veered off and hit the fourth Marlboro that no one had seen square in the teeth.  
  
"What was that?" Zell glanced back at the other blonde expectantly.  
  
"Um," Seifer had paled a little, "Thanks a lot?"  
  
"That'll do," Zell continued to beat the Marlboro with his fists and feet until Seifer joined him, swinging his gunblade.  
  
"Just why are you so scared of fighting?" Selphie glared at Lynne as she rushed past him to take on one of the other three.  
  
"Aw man," Lynne groaned as he slowly walked to one of the other two, joining Quistis and Squall.  
  
"If you really don't want to fight," Quistis didn't even look at him, "then stand back, we might be able to take this one out without a third person."  
  
"Don't bother," Lynne grimaced, just watch it if it tries hitting me. I mean, stay completely out of my range, all right?"  
  
Both Squall and Quistis froze. They looked at him in shock. The Marlboro took the opportunity to attack the apparently weakest fighter facing it. The tentacle slid out in front of Squall and Quistis, reaching for Lynne.  
  
He stepped back from the tentacle, just as it would have jabbed through him, and started spinning his staff. For a few seconds, it seemed like the spinning was no more than a technique to show off with. Then the staff shot right out of the circular motion, and with no apparent regards to inertia, flew at the Marlboro with a red haired attachment right behind. The man swung at the tentacled monster over and over, almost too fast to see. With each blow landed, the creature howled in pain. At one point, the staff swung upward and cracked out several of its teeth.  
  
While Squall and Quistis stood in shock, the others struggled with the other three Marlboros.  
  
Zell, Seifer, and Xia fought the one that had snuck up. Xia's arrows caused it to leak its noxious ichor from wounded tentacles, while Seifer's gunblade severed as many as she hit. When they weren't removing body parts, Zell was pummeling the creature to an icky, sticky, green mass of glop.  
  
Ariadne, Selphie and Edgar took on another one. It seemed a little younger, as it was more hesitant. Of course, the three were shocked as all get out when the fool thing fired its bad breath... at itself. They quickly changed tactics, pilfering what they could from it before it died from its own venomous fumes.  
  
Maria, Eric, and Irvine battled the last. Irvine took potshots at the tentacles, to keep them from Maria as she dashed in and out, slicing with her twin swords, and Eric as he ripped at the creature with the sharp claws strapped to each hand. When it finally oozed away, they turned to offer aid to any of the other nine. Noticing that six of them were done fighting, they looked at what had them all transfixed.  
  
"Sh-" Eric yelped, "That thing tried to hit Lynne!"  
  
"Great!" Maria started running toward Squall and Quistis, "Get out of the way! His staff has berserk embedded in it!"  
  
Squall and Quistis looked at one another, and in unison started edging away from the enraged fighter, who was still swinging at the mass that had once been a Marlboro. It had long since given up on the fight, and was now just trying to die in peace...  
  
"Any of you good at knocking a person out in one hit?" Eric asked of the others, "That's the only way we're gonna calm him down now. 'Course, you gotta sneak up on him."  
  
Edgar nodded and approached the redhead. As he reached Lynne's peripheral vision, the redhead transferred his rage to the new target. While Edgar dodged and ran around him, Zell snuck up on the staff-wielder. When Zell reached him, Edgar stood still, blocking most of the staff swings, and then grabbing the weapon itself in his hands. Zell brought up one hand and pressed it to the nerves in Lynne's neck that would send him to that nice cold space between awake and asleep...  
  
~~*~~  
  
  
  
Much as I like the ending and the suspense, (not to mention the teamwork) I can't help but wonder why he's turning out so important... Wonder if I should switch all occurrences of 'Max' with Rinoa... Nahh. Never really liked her. She'll show up somewhere, but I'm not too sure it'll be in a nice way.  
  
Oh yeah, I'm not sure what's making things so urgent. I do, after all write these things by the seat of my pants. ;) Can't you see the pocket marks? XP  
  
~This is the worst chapter so far with typing bloopers. Why doesn't anyone tell me I messed up on the keyboard? :P~ 


	9. Strange Visions

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine. :) I discovered recently that I have a muse, and we're adjusting to one another, so it could get rocky...  
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
~Somehow, the last two chapters had the exact same messages... At least they weren't repeats of each other.~  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
Lynne opened his eyes and looked around him. Rather than the desert sand and plateaus he'd expected, he saw high, gray walls. The floors were covered in crimson tapestries. The thought occurred to him that they were just so blood-soaked that the color had permeated everything. He shuddered. Upon sitting up, Lynne was greeted with horrific images of a winged bat-like creature waving it's face over an unconscious man, as though it was trying to eat him, and a hideous furred monster waiting at the door for it's turn at the hapless body. Lynne stood; ready to run at the two creatures and rip them apart when he realized that he was unarmed and unable to move. He watched in emotional pain as the scene before him unfolded. But it didn't go as he expected.  
  
Rather than killing the man or eating him, they seemed to be actually trying to guard him. And as if that wasn't strange enough, the images he saw looked to be backing up. The two creatures guarding the still form walked 'away', and in reverse, fought a hideous looking woman who had just climbed out of the boy's body.  
  
It occurred to Lynne that the woman wasn't climbing out of the boy, but she battled the monsters and then after winning, sank into his mind. Which left Lynne wondering why the poor guy had been there in the first place.  
~*~  
  
"So now we have to carry him around like a sack of potatoes," Eric grimaced as he shifted Lynne's weight on his back, "ugh, he may be short, but he is not light."  
  
"Well, why didn't you warn us about the stick's status effects?" Zell held up the staff in question.  
  
"He doesn't like to talk about that," Maria pushed Zell lightly in the back, "It's the only thing he has from a member of his family that wasn't his from birth. He doesn't like to think that perhaps his grandfather knew about the Berserk fixation on it."  
  
"That sounds worse than learning that his whole family couldn't care less if he's alive or dead," Quistis shuddered.  
  
"Heads up folks," Edgar rushed back toward the group from scouting ahead, "We're almost there. Is that guy awake yet?"  
  
A groan answered his question before anyone else could, "What?"  
  
"Lynne," Eric stopped and helped Lynne back to his feet, "We're almost there."  
  
"Oh," Lynne, groggily rubbed his face, trying to wake himself up, "Have any of you ever seen a hideous woman in purplish robes and really poofy hats?"  
  
"Ultimecia?" Zell paled.  
  
"I don't know, maybe," Lynne shrugged, "I never saw her, so I wouldn't know would I?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Squall glanced at Lynne and then at Zell's pale face, "Does it have anything to do with our destination?"  
  
"I don't know whether to take it at face value or not," Lynne grabbed his staff from Zell, "but I saw some poor guy on the ground in this weird room with grey walls and red floors, and these two creatures were standing over him."  
  
"What else?" Maria looked sharply at him, knowing that there was more coming.  
  
"Well," Lynne rubbed the back of his head, "They were guarding him, and not attacking him as I first thought, but this was after some lady slipped into his head. She wore dark purple, and a funny looking hat, and before that, she fought them."  
  
"There's a reason you told that backwards," Quistis guessed, "But what is it?"  
  
"That's how I saw it," Lynne blew out his breath, "It weirded me out when I saw it, and I can't figure out why I did."  
  
"Well," Zell snorted, "Guess that's as good a hint as any. She's out to torment us even after she's dead!"  
  
"What's the guarantee it's her?" Seifer drawled.  
  
"Who else could it be?" Irvine rolled his eyes.  
  
"Seifer's got a point," Quistis shrugged, "But the only way to find out for sure is to go there and meet our friend."  
~*~  
  
  
  
  
I'm starting to wonder about this... I think it's not Ultimecia, but considering I can't even keep Max as a background character...  
Max: whoops 


	10. Read the Signs

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 9  
  
  
"We climbed to the top of one of the plateaus," Edgar waved a hand around, "And saw nothing. I mean, there was nothing on the rocks, and we couldn't see anything in any of the valleys either."  
  
"Then the sun struck something and it started to reveal this huge building," Ariadne flung her hands out to illustrate her point. Then she turned pink.  
  
"It was her castle," Selphie was subdued, "It looked different somehow, but I'm not sure how, exactly."  
  
"Well, let's find out," Squall shrugged, "Lead the way."  
  
Edgar, Selphie and Ariadne set off at a pretty good pace, trying to rush the others to the location which had surprised them before the sun got out of the position, in case it relied on certain times to be visible.  
  
Upon reaching the top of the nearest plateau, Edgar pointed toward the sun where it was setting, "That's it. Do you see the strange shadow in the outline of the sun?"  
  
Squall nodded, and noticed that as the sun sank lower, the silhouette of the structure disappeared. He watched it for a few seconds, and then started toward the location, "We might have a time limit here, so be careful."  
  
"Don't you just hate it when someone decides to time spell their headquarters?" Seifer tried to crack a joke.  
  
Selphie giggled slightly, "Seifer! That's not funny!"  
  
"Then why'd you laugh?" he grinned right back, "But honestly, what do we do if there is ~is~ a time limit? Wait til tomorrow?"  
  
"No," Lynne shook his head, "We can't, he's almost dead."  
  
"What?" the others froze in shock.  
  
"That person I saw while I was out of it," Lynne stared at the ground beneath him, concentrating on the red of the dirt, and the way the sun changed the appearance of it, rather than on the reactions to what he was about to say, "I got the feeling it was that Max guy, and that he only had a few hours left to live..."  
  
"Well that really-" Seifer snorted.  
  
"Then we just move a little faster," Squall shrugged, "Not that big a deal. Even if it turns out to be nothing more than a hallucination."  
  
"Those of you who are skilled at moving quickly, run ahead. Get to the building and wait for us, maybe even try to get in or observe things about the structure," Quistis waved her hand around, "When the rest of us get there we might have to split up, and go into it like that."  
  
Zell, Edgar, Selphie, Xia, Maria and Eric dashed off as fast as they were able. Squall, Seifer, Quistis and Ariadne weren't far behind. Irvine and Lynne tried to keep the others at least in sight. While running, each person kept an eye not only on each other, but also on the placement of the sun. Though there was no time for watching the sunset, they couldn't help but admire the shifting hues as they drifted toward the horizon. Nor could they help but shiver as the far off castle slowly but surely disappeared from the top down.  
~*~  
  
Gasping for air, Zell and Edgar reached out to the doors of the building, touching them to make sure they were there. Selphie and Eric approached as well, but they took the doorknobs in hand, and actually pulled. The doors didn't budge. So they pulled on one door. But it still wouldn't move.  
  
When Xia and Maria arrived, Zell and Edgar had joined in on pulling at the doorknob. But it refused to move. As they approached, Quistis and Seifer also joined in on the door-pulling contest. Squall paused, looking at the state of the walls, only a few yards above the doors were still visible, and Ariadne caught her breath and helped the others in their efforts.  
  
Without even pausing in his approach, Irvine also pulled at the doors when he arrived, joining the others. Squall continued to stare at the walls, trying to figure out what felt wrong about the situation. Lynne snickered as he arrived, and stood next to Squall. After a few breaths, Lynne called out to the others, "You know, you really ought to have read the door! It says PUSH!"  
  
  
  
~  
  
I couldn't resist the attempt at lightening the atmosphere. I guess someone down the line got a sense of humor concerning that place... *tries to look innocent*  
~Then again, that kinda adds to the suspense of the time limit that disappeared. *rolling eyes*~ 


	11. Did those doors lock before?

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
Before I start, I don't remember the geography of the castle all that well, even after reading the stories written by those with better memories than mine... so I will PROBABLY mess with details of the actual building. (In other words, I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but I'll likely leave some things out while others are going to be made up...)  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 10  
  
  
"I can't believe we didn't remember that," Selphie groaned at her own silliness.  
  
"We'd been here before," Zell laughed, "and we forgot the doors opened into the castle, not out of," he shook his head, "well, I guess that was someone's attempt to lighten the atmosphere."  
  
Irvine snorted, "Well, why didn't you say anything, Squall?"  
  
"He was watching the walls disappear," Lynne glanced at the man in question, who was still staring at the walls, though from the inside at this point, "Why?"  
  
"Something doesn't feel right," Squall shrugged, "I'm not normally the person to feel things like that, but... Why were the walls disappearing, and why was their appearance dependent on a specific positioning of the sunset?"  
  
"Well," Maria settled her hands on her hips, "the best we can do at this point is to move forward, and try to puzzle this place out as we go."  
  
Quistis finished her own perusal of the walls surrounding them. They were grayer than before, seeming more corroded, and the floors were even bloodier looking as well, "What could have done this? Didn't we destroy this structure when we fought Ultimecia? How could it look older now, than it did before?"  
  
The others glanced around as well. Some shivered unconsciously at the apparent gore all around, while those who'd been there before also noted the visible effects of time.  
  
"You're right," Irvine drawled, "It looks a few centuries older, but what can we do about it?"  
  
"Well," Quistis shuddered, "It just means that more stairs are likely to have rotted away, making our steps more dangerous. We also have to worry about things falling from overhead, as the ceiling seems rotted as well."  
  
As though coached by her statement, a large panel of the ceiling collapsed over the doorway, trapping them inside.  
  
"I really don't like that," Edgar pointed at the door, "But there isn't much we can do, is there?"  
  
"We move ahead," Squall started out, "before something else tries to fall on our heads."  
  
~  
  
The foyer wasn't much changed; as they'd expected, the stairs we more decrepit than before, and certain parts of the floors also had new holes, but there weren't many things changed from the last time they had been inside...   
  
To one side, the remaining stairs still led up to another room, while the other set of stairs led in their own direction. As before, the twin staircases were connecting and meeting by the use of a floor partition that was a hall without the walls. Directly in front of them, yet on the other side of the room was a pair of doors that led into an art gallery of sorts. Another door hid underneath the first, with the walkway acting as a ceiling.  
  
Not far into the room, in the floor, the trap door continued to rest. A chandelier still hung low into the room, requiring that some of the group duck beneath it. The walls were the most disturbing things to note. In a pattern reminiscent of water leakage, the walls were adorned with black trails. At first, they gave the impression of some black substance leaking through the ceiling, but at a closer study, they could be recognized as blood trails...  
  
Where could that much blood have come from?  
  
~Where do you think?~  
  
~~You would be amazed at how much blood the human body can produce.~~  
  
Everyone jumped at the two Guardians' sudden intrusion.  
  
"Where are the others?" Zell yelped.  
  
"Why can't we feel, call, or hear them?" Quistis focused on a point in one corner of the room.  
  
~When all of the Guardians call.~  
  
"What has that to do with it?" Eric snorted, "They've disappeared!"  
  
~~They cannot enter this structure at this time.~~  
  
"What's so different about THIS time?" Selphie squawked, "They could get in six months ago!"  
  
~They faced a Sorceress then who'd had no dealings with them.~  
  
"Wait," Zell paled, "That means that this time..."  
  
~~Sorceress' come and they go, but what remains for all of time?~~  
  
With that, the ghostly presence of the Guardians left them completely.  
  
"This is worse than when we had to travel through here and our skills were blocked!" Zell groaned, "Now we just don't have them!"  
  
"What was with that 'Sorceress' reference?" Xia blinked, "The only known, living Sorceresses at this time are Rinoa Heartilly and Edea Kramer. What do they have to do with this?"  
  
"Edea has nothing to do with it," Quistis nodded, "She's been helping us, so we know she is not the source..."  
  
"But what about Rinoa?" Eric raised one eyebrow in Squall's direction, "The way the story goes, you and she are an item."  
  
"Not really," Squall started up one of the staircases, "I was a challenge for her. To open up closed doors, she kind of likes that. But in the long run, we wound up pretty good friends, especially after she realized that the 'door' I represented would only open just to close again."  
  
"Could she be involved?" Lynne looked up at the black-clad SeeD on the top of the stairway.  
  
"Perhaps," Squall shrugged, "Or perhaps not. I haven't seen or heard from her in two months. Any thing could have happened. Even her turning evil. We'll just, as they say, 'Cross that bridge when we get to it.'"  
  
"That's not exactly heartwarming," Maria muttered under her breath, "You are cold, just like they say."  
  
"No kidding," Squall called back, "How long before you were hit by that particular mountain of a discovery?"  
  
"Squall," Quistis started up the stairs as well, "Where are you going? Should we follow or split up?"  
  
"Do as you like," he muttered from one of the doorways, "I'm not leading, remember? This is a group effort, no one was given Commander status with this group, after all, we're all supposed to be instructors..."  
  
"We ought to at least travel in groups of three, for safety's sake," Quistis rushed after him, "Split up as you see fit, I'm following him."  
  
Zell dashed after her, through the door Squall had pushed open. It closed behind them with a click.  
  
"Um," Selphie shuddered, "Irvine, do you remember that door clicking like that when it closed?"  
  
"Nope," Irvine dashed up the stairs, with Xia, and Lynne close behind him. Their combined weight did what one person at a time did not; the whole structure of the stairway gave out, and they fell to the floor below.  
  
"Oh shi-" Eric blinked as he looked at the hole below.  
  
"Eric," Maria scolded, "Should we follow those three, the other three, or what?"  
  
"We won't get into the one door," Seifer shrugged, "And I'm not about to fall an indeterminate height, so we should split up even further. I think this place is just one circular structure, so we'll all just meet up somewhere," he continued to mutter as he walked off.  
  
After looking a little floundered, Edgar dashed after him, with Selphie following as best she could, trying to dodge the holes in the floor.  
  
Ariadne, Maria, and Eric looked at one another, and started off in the only direction not previously taken. They slowly climbed the remaining set of stairs and set about exploring the door in that direction.  
~*~  
  
  
  
  
  
The more I'm writing this, the more I think it will have a sequel. Purely unintentional, mind you, but the story was SUPPOSED to go like this: they find out they're instructors at Esthar, find Seifer and Max, and have trouble dealing with the fact that he doesn't even know they beat Ultimecia... Meanwhile they're trying to teach a few dozen kids to be SeeDs... Yeah, it didn't work out that way. I guess I'm just explaining why he has no clue about their 'status.'  
  
News to me anyway.~Good thing I left everyone to explore on their own, or I'd have had a problem with the ones who'd never been there getting around under their own power.~ 


	12. What is Squall's problem, anyway?

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
Before I start, I don't remember the geography of the castle all that well, even after reading the stories written by those with better memories than mine... so I will PROBABLY mess with details of the actual building. (In other words, I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but I'll likely leave some things out while others are going to be made up... ) As a matter of fact, I think the structure is going to be compressed (Bad Pun)  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 11  
  
  
  
  
"What the?" Seifer looked straight up at Squall's shoes, from underneath the terrace. A chandelier hung above the center of the room, and on the other side of a terrace rested a pair of open doors that revealed the night sky.  
  
"Huh?" a blonde head peered over the side of the terrace, "Cool! So we didn't split up as much as we thought!"  
  
"The place is circular," Edgar shook his head, "So how do we get up there, or you get down here?"  
  
"The down is much easier than the up," Quistis snorted, "All we have to do is try to walk across the chandelier."  
  
"And it'll fall under us," Zell finished, "It hurts when you impact though."  
  
"That's only because you keep falling off," Selphie giggled.  
  
"Bah," Zell stood, and then flipped over the side, "What do we do now?"  
  
"Um," Selphie blinked, "maybe we should go back to the foyer, there's nothing here..."  
  
"Wait," Edgar made a running dash for the other side of the room, and jumped up onto the terrace there. He looked out the open doors, and then turned, "Yeah, there's nothing here."  
  
"What would you have done if it had turned out that something was there?" Quistis scolded, as he jumped down to the lower level of the room.  
  
"I'd have screamed and ran like a little girl," Edgar answered honestly, "I have no need to seem like a great, strong hero..."  
  
"What good does it do?" Squall snorted, "Being a hero isn't all it's hacked out to be."  
  
"Well," Zell looked up at Quistis and Squall, "You comin down?"  
  
Squall hopped down in much the same manner that Zell and Edgar had done, landing on his feet, then allowing himself to fall to his knees, so as not to break the bones between. Quistis sat on the edge of the terrace, with her legs hanging over. She then scooted off, and landed on the floor of the lower level.  
  
The six people headed out of the room, and Selphie wondered aloud, "I didn't remember there being a floor below the entrance way..."  
  
"Huh?" Zell blinked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Quistis stopped and looked at the spunky girl.  
  
"Well," Selphie explained, "After you three went through the door, it clicked, and Irvine, Xia, and Eric all tried dashing after you."  
  
"Oh," Zell shook his head, "We knew about the click, but that's kinda bad..."  
  
"They fell because they dashed up the stairs at about the same time," Seifer stated as they came back through the door.  
  
Looking up, it was possible to see where the three had fallen in, but they showed no sign of having come out.  
  
"Wonder if we could see them," Zell said from his vantage point of a step or two below the hole, "It's kinda dark down there."  
  
"You aren't scared are you?" Seifer grinned.  
  
"Nah," Zell turned his head to glare at the other blonde, "It's just Irvine, Xia, and Lynne. What's to be afraid of?"  
  
At that point, a hand popped up from under the frame of the stairs and grabbed at the wall supports. Zell jerked away from the hand so fast, he fell down the rest of the stairs. Selphie screamed shrilly, and the hand fell back into the darkness.  
  
"Could we get some help here?" Irvine's voice was a little weak, "I'm the tallest of the three of us, and I can just barely reach the top."  
  
Squall rolled his eyes, and walked up the steps. Leaning over the side, he peered at the trio down below, "If that's as deep as it gets, why didn't you just break through the wall?" With that, he jumped off the staircase, and kicked at the wall of the stairs, breaking it in.  
  
Xia and Lynne sheepishly walked out of the enclosure, covered with dust and cobwebs. She quickly shook as much as she could out of her hair, and then started patting her arms and dress off as well.  
  
"Yuck," Lynne grimaced, "You'd think and enclosed space like that wouldn't get spiders, but no, the blasted things were all over!"  
  
"What?" Xia blinked, "There are spiders?!"  
  
"Yeah," Lynne shrugged, "I think we disturbed a nest or something."  
  
"Xia," Selphie quickly dashed to her friend's side and looked her over for the little eight-legged creatures, "No problem, there aren't any on you."  
  
"No," Irvine winced, "But the darn things are all over me!"  
  
"Well," Selphie snorted, "There's a brook running through this place. Take a bath!"  
  
"That'd leave me in wet clothes, Seffie!" Irvine yelped.  
  
Edgar rolled his eyes, and pulled a small metal object from his pocket. Putting it to his lips, he gently blew into it. Irvine shuddered as the spiders climbing all over him scattered off, and jumped to the floor. They rushed back into the little area below the stairs, and disappeared.  
  
"I don't wanna know how you did that," Irvine shuddered.  
  
"It's just a modified dog whistle," Edgar shrugged, and put it back in his pocket, "Just goes on the principle that even if the little things can't hear, they can feel minute vibrations in the air, and react to them."  
  
"It still gives me the shakes when you do that," Selphie rolled her eyes.  
  
"Well," Zell looked around, "Since we've explored two directions, and there are still two left, shouldn't we split up to cover ground?"  
  
"All that's over that way," Selphie pointed at the side door that wasn't far from the hole in the stairs, "Is a two story picture room."  
  
"That led to another room," Squall had climbed back up the stairs, jumped over the indicated hole, and stood in front of the door, "I'm going to check it out at least."  
  
"Good grief!" Lynne yelped, "That guy just don't stay put!"  
  
"No kidding," Zell rolled his eyes, "And everyone says I'm hyper."  
  
"He just doesn't like to stand idle," Selphie tried to explain.  
  
"Yeah," Lynne snorted, "Right. That explains why he's always just standing around. Until there's some way to piss people off."  
  
Seifer, by this time, had also reached the doorway, "If you're going in, better hurry up, or else this door might lock too!" He snickered as he opened the door and walked through. As it swung closed behind him, Edgar hopped up to the upper level, to try to catch the door, but it closed just as he reached it, with a click.  
  
"He just had to open his mouth, didn't he," Lynne groaned.  
~*~  
  
  
  
  
  
What do you know, the muse for this story seems to be letting up... Or at least it took a bit longer to get this chapter out. As of right now, it feels like this will be over by chapter fifteen, but I won't guarantee it... In fact, knowing the way things go for me... now that I've mentioned it, this darn thing will keep going.  
  
I also realized that I was being inaccurate in the map. So I have modified it a bit, and am trying to keep it as close as I can. 


	13. Music is the Key

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
Before I start, I don't remember the geography of the castle all that well, even after reading the stories written by those with better memories than mine... so I will PROBABLY mess with details of the actual building. (In other words, I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but I'll likely leave some things out while others are going to be made up... ) As a matter of fact, I think the structure is going to be compressed (Bad Pun)  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 12  
  
  
"We probably shouldn't have done this," Maria whispered, looking up at the murky sky as they walked across a rope bridge, "I mean, none of us know this place."  
  
"They did it just fine last time," Eric shrugged, "So why can't we?"  
  
"Because they were exploring, and it hadn't gone through compression!" Maria yelped, "And we're trying to find someone to save him in a specific amount of time, and this place has,"  
  
"Calm down!" Ariadne stopped suddenly in front of Maria, "I read your file, and it said you were dead serious on a mission. I have yet to see that!"  
  
Maria blinked, "You're right. I forgot that this was just a mission. Forgive me. I will not make that mistake again."  
  
Eric shook his head, "That doesn't change the fact that we're lost," by that time, they'd reached the end of the bridge, and approached a tall structure. All the way at the top was a bell, swinging gently back and forth in the slight breeze.  
  
"We should explore that," Maria led the way, up into the tower. When they reached the inside, they looked up... and up... to the bell, which was now difficult to see, "Or maybe it doesn't need exploring, as we can see everything here."  
  
Eric smiled at his friend, "You know, sometimes you're more comical when you're dead serious than you are all panicky."  
  
Maria rolled her eyes, "Big deal, let's go."  
  
When they left the small room that opened high, with its organ against the wall, Maria realized that her earlier panic had caused them to miss the sound of running water.  
  
"A fountain," Eric's face went completely dead, "Why would they need a fountain here, when there are no life forms that would have a use for it?"  
  
"False aestheticism?" Ariadne suggested, and shrugged.  
  
"Not even that is a good enough reason," Maria glowered at the opposing fixture, "Well, I can't see anything strange about it other than its very presence, so we should move on."  
  
"Where to?" Eric glanced around for a path to elsewhere in the structure, "Were they sure this place lead in circles?"  
  
"That's what they said," Maria glanced up at Eric, trying not to have to crane her head upward.  
  
"It doesn't seem that way," he muttered, "I actually think we've taken the most dangerous route, but for some reason, there are no monsters here. I wonder why?"  
  
"Don't ask questions like that," Maria shuddered, "Its just asking for that to change drastically."  
  
"Don't look now," Ariadne's eyes were wide, and focused on something behind Eric and Maria, "But it's too late for that admonition, and it looks nasty!"  
  
Two unclassified creatures stood at their backs. One swiped at Eric, who leaned back to avoid its sharp claws. The other breathed on Maria, who waved a hand in front of her face; coughing. Ariadne jumped at the creature that had just breathed on Maria, and slashed her whip across what she supposed was its face. Eric then sliced his claws through it, once for each glove. Maria blinked, and then swung her swords at it in an 'x' formation, which caused it to melt away, but the other still stood.  
  
It grabbed Ariadne by her whip and whipped her through the air, leaving her to drop on her back near where it had picked her up. She winced as she stood, and then cracked her whip across its hands. Maria stabbed one of her swords into its midsection, and hacked the other across its apparent neck. It screamed, but didn't fall. Eric jogged up to it and sunk his claws into its skin, which caused it to also melt away.  
  
"I have never seen a creature do that," Maria gasped, "They never melt away."  
  
"Don't ask me," Eric wiped the blood off of his claws, "I have no more idea what caused it than you do."  
  
"Could it have something to do with the fact that we're in a funny dimension?"  
  
Eric and Maria looked at Ariadne in shock. It was equal parts from her speaking at all, speaking this much, and her comment on the dimension they currently resided in.  
  
"Where'd you get that idea?" Maria glanced at Eric, and started to clean her swords.  
  
"Well," Ariadne hesitated, now that she'd opened her mouth, she sincerely regretted it, "I read somewhere that GF's become unavailable when their bearers walk through dimensional rifts."  
  
"Where would they have time or cause to test that?" Eric blinked, "Wait, it was probably an Odine text. That would explain it easily."  
  
"But how did we do that?" Maria tucked one blade back in its sheath, "And weren't the GF's gone even before then?"  
  
"Who knows," Eric shrugged, "We still have some exploring to do. Let's go."  
  
They continued on, and found another path to travel. When they reached a set of spears blocking their path, they paused.  
  
"Well," Maria raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that dandy?"  
  
"How do we get past that?" Eric blinked, "There isn't any clearance to jump over, and I don't see anything that would bring them down."  
  
Ariadne looked around, "Um.. what's that?" she pointed to something carved into the stone.  
  
"Music is the key," Maria read aloud, "What? That's almost as bad as the GF's going into another dimension because that's where that Max guy wound up, and they dragged us along because they couldn't fight for him directly!" she blinked at the cascade of words that had fallen from her mouth.  
  
"That's what I thought!" Ariadne gasped, "But didn't know how to put it into words!"  
  
"Will someone please tell me why this guy's so important though?" Eric stalked back towards the water fountain, with the girls following him.  
  
  
~*~  
  
  
Frankly, I'd kind of like to know the answer to that...  
  
Well, I can predict at least three more chapters of this. Beyond that, I have no clue!  
  
  
~I realize that the creatures actually DO just melt away in the game, but there's no guarantee that that's normal either... I hope.~ 


	14. Ripping the Door off its hinges

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
Before I start, I don't remember the geography of the castle all that well, even after reading the stories written by those with better memories than mine... so I will PROBABLY mess with details of the actual building. (In other words, I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but I'll likely leave some things out while others are going to be made up... ) As a matter of fact, I think the structure is going to be compressed (Bad Pun)  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 13  
  
  
Maria walked through the door leading back into the foyer of the castle and two things were immediately made apparent. Firstly, Zell, Selphie, and Lynne should never be allowed to travel with one another if no one else could keep them in line.  
  
Secondly, the stairs were not going to be a viable path to rejoin the others through, as they'd been knocked down at some point since she, Ariadne, and Eric had left.  
  
Eric walked up to just behind her, and groaned, "Good grief. We can't let Lynne be around anyone anymore."  
  
Ariadne peeked between the other two and the door, then giggled, "Selphie didn't make matters any better!" She then pushed past the other two, and nimbly jumped down from the upper level to rush at her friend for another spontaneous hug.  
  
"Geesh," Eric joked, "Wish she'd behave like that for a few other people."  
  
Maria grinned, "I'll be sure and tell her you're interested."  
  
Eric just turned scarlet.  
  
"Wonder if there was any truth to that?" Maria grinned at her friend's face turning various shades of red, "I won't say anything, though I should."  
  
"You two, come on down here!" Lynne called up.  
  
After taking a quick survey of those present, Maria asked, "Where are Leonhart and Almasy?"  
  
"I was actually more curious as to how all of you wound up in one place," Eric drawled, as he landed on the lower level, then reached up to pull Maria down.  
  
"Well," Zell stopped swinging at the air long enough to answer, "When we split up, Seifer, Selphie and Edgar almost immediately found Quistis, Squall, an me. We all came back here, and found out that Irvine, Xia, and Lynne had just fallen through to the floor," Zell pointed at the stairwell with a broken wall, "And then Squall an Seifer went through the door that would have been directly in front of you while you were on the upper level."  
  
"I take it the door locked again," Eric drawled.  
  
"Yup," Selphie grinned, "But there's nothing there! Just the dungeon where we could turn the water off so we can play the organ and yank the spears down so we can,"  
  
"Wait!" Ariadne put a hand over Selphie's mouth, "That organ moves the spears?"  
  
"Yeah," Zell snorted, "Didn't you catch the clue on the wall, said, 'Music is the Key?'"  
  
"How ironic," Eric grimaced, "We read the message after encountering the instrument, but never added it up to being part of the clue."  
  
"I am a little curious as to how those two will get out of the room if the door is locked," Quistis looked at the door as if mentioning it would bring them back.  
~  
  
"What good does it do to come in here?" Seifer snarled, "These paintings are pathetic to look at, and there's no where to go."  
  
"Then why did you follow me," Squall didn't even look behind himself, as he headed straight through the door that lead, in a roundabout way, to the dungeon in the castle, "I certainly didn't ask you to."  
  
"I expected the others to reach the door before it locked," Seifer followed ther darker-haired man, "Not to wind up walking around this place with just you for company. And before you ask, the door wouldn't budge."  
  
Squall stopped, "What?"  
  
"Yeah," Seifer combed a hand through his hair, "I tried the door after it clicked, and it wouldn't budge. I even tried both pulling and pushing, in case it was another of that evil prank from when we tried to get in here."  
  
Squall shook his head, "Then we may finally be on the right track."  
  
"How can we tell?" Seifer blinked, "We're going to the dungeon, and that's a dead end if ever I heard of one."  
  
"We didn't exactly explore the area before," Squall snorted, "The others were eager to get out of the 'ultimate of dead ends,' as they called it before it became ours."  
  
"So there might be something there?" Seifer grinned, "This'll be more fun than I thought!"  
~  
  
"I don't like it," Quistis glared at the door, as if her mental daggers would push it open, "We checked out the castle, all the way to where we encountered Ultimecia, and found nothing we hadn't already seen before. We even rang that damned bell, and nothing happened. All of the monsters that were here are gone, and have been replaced by new ones that melt away, rather than collapsing, and we can't figure out how to get this fucking door open!"  
  
"Calm down, girl," Irvine grinned, "That's just because all we've tried so far is turnin' the knob an glarin' at it. Let's try a few other ideas first," with that, he loaded his shotgun, and fired at a point about two inches above the knob.  
  
Quistis tried the knob again, "Nothing!"  
  
"Eh," Selphie scratched her head, "Wonder if Zell or Edgar could get it open?"  
  
"Man," Zell rolled his eyes, "What are we now, door beaters?"  
  
Edgar just grinned and rushed at the door, slamming into it, shoulder first, "Unf!"  
  
It didn't budge.  
  
Then he tried kicking at it, but he was only knocked off his feet.  
  
"That is some tough freaking wood!" Edgar winced as he stood, "Ow, my shoulder hurts."  
  
"What now?" Quistis rubbed her forehead, "Are there some magic words to use to get the door open?"  
  
"Quistis," Selphie blinked, "I think we're just trying too hard. I mean, maybe the music clue applies there too, or maybe we should just look for another puzzle somewhere around here to use to open the door?"  
  
Xia sighed and approached the door. After staring at it, its workmanship, and the placement of the hinges, she asked, "Does anyone have a screwdriver, perhaps?"  
  
"Why?" Irvine blinked.  
  
Edgar reached into his pockets, "I know I keep one around here somewhere," he continued to rummage.  
  
"Wait," Lynne's eyes were wide, "That guy keeps tools in his pockets?!"  
  
"He keeps entire toolboxes of just about any kind on his person at all times," Xia smiled, "There are few things he doesn't keep on hand. Like,"  
  
"Found it!" Edgar pulled a screwdriver from one of the pockets that rested on his pant legs, and handed it to Xia, "Were you talking about me again?"  
  
Xia turned slightly pink, "Yes, I was, but honestly, you should pay attention to other things when you search those limitless depths you call pockets."  
  
Edgar rolled his eyes, as Xia knelt in front of one of the hinges, "You see, what no one else looked for was the fact that the door opens toward us. Because of that, I can loosen the hinges to the point that we can remove the door that way."  
  
"Wait," Lynne blinked rapidly, "How often have you done this?"  
  
Xia shrugged, "Often enough to know the general types of hinges used in structures like this. There, that deals with one," she stood, and started on the one in the middle of the door, "I do have to mention though, that this might not work, as the door could be locked in a manner other than the mundane. In which case, my doing this just gives us a pair of hinge screws, and one more possibility that does not work."  
  
"Well," Irvine shrugged, "I guess they teach things at Trabia that they don't at Galbadia."  
  
"Of course," Selphie rolled her eyes, "Aren't they supposed to diversify the teaching programs at the Gardens?"  
  
Xia plucked the last hinge screw from its place in the hinge, and then tapped Edgar on the shoulder lightly, "Here is your screwdriver, Eddie, and now, Zell, if you would please try the door, as Eddie already has?"  
  
Zell shrugged, "I guess," and pulled at the door by its hinges. It cracked, but didn't open. He pulled a little harder, and the wood fragmented and broke. Finishing the job he'd started, Zell ripped the rest of the door from the jamb, and set both rough halves against the wall, "There we go. New doorway ripped."  
  
"Um, Zell," Quistis blinked, shocked, "Wasn't that a bit of overkill?"  
  
"Sheesh," Zell shrugged, and started through the portal, "You're just impossible to please today, ain't ya, Quistis?"  
  
Wary of further impediment, the others quickly followed him.  
~  
  
  
  
Well, I think that from here on out, the building is going to go as I want it to... You know, whoever started this mess decided to tack on rooms to the dungeon area, and I'm running away with that. So I think the floor plans are going to get a little more detailed. Depends on how long these folks intend to stop and ogle their surroundings. 


	15. Locked Doors, Musical Bones, and Dark Ha...

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
Before I start, I don't remember the geography of the castle all that well, even after reading the stories written by those with better memories than mine... so I will PROBABLY mess with details of the actual building. (In other words, I'll try to be as accurate as possible, but I'll likely leave some things out while others are going to be made up... ) As a matter of fact, I think the structure is going to be compressed (Bad Pun)  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 14  
  
  
"How far ahead of us could they have gotten?" Selphie squawked, "I mean, it's just the two of them!"  
  
"Yeah," Zell rolled his eyes, "It's just the two of them, and they happen to be Squall and Seifer. Those two move fast on their own, just think how fast they'll move when they don't have anyone else to slow them down!"  
  
"Speaking from personal experience, Zell?" Quistis raised an eyebrow.  
  
"No kidding," Zell groaned, "You'd think that since Squall's about six inches shorter than Seifer, he'd have a hard time keeping up, and since I'm only three inches shorter than Squall, I could keep up with him, but no, Seifer had a hard time keeping Squall from passin' him all throughout the Exam, and I could barely keep the two of them in my field of vision!"  
  
"Being short is something of a curse," Maria nodded, "And I'm even shorter than you are."  
  
"So are they headed toward the dungeon, or are they going to search something else out?" Selphie stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.  
  
"Knowing those two," Quistis shook her head, "They'll get into as much trouble as possible as quickly as possible."  
  
~  
  
"Stupid freakin door!" Seifer railed at the bars in front of him, trying to pry them open. He kicked at them, hoping the force would unstop the door, and let him out.  
  
"I told you not to go in there," Squall turned from the doorway of the other cell. He leant to the floor, and picked a key up from just beyond Seifer's reach. He swung the key on its chain, and then slipped it into the lock, "It automatically closes and shuts if someone walks over the threshold."  
  
"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Seifer fumed as he pushed the door open, trying to smack Squall in the face with the bars.  
  
"Because you wouldn't have listened," Squall tossed the key at Seifer, who just caught it and pocketed it, "Help me search the rest of the room."  
  
The two combed the remaining cells, and the walls as high as they could reach, looking for keystones, and push-panels, or even just a trip lever. But they found nothing.  
  
Seifer kicked at a stone that happened to be within range of his foot, "This really sucks. We just wasted, what, an hour? Looking for a passage from this room, and there isn't one!"  
  
Squall stared at the cell with the automatic locking door.  
  
"What, you want locked in the door?" Seifer smirked, "That can be arranged, you know."  
  
Squall shook his head, "No, but if there are any ways to unlocking a secret passage, they might be available when that door is locked."  
  
"Even if we do find the passage, that means that someone's gonna get left behind!" Seifer glared at the bars a little more.  
  
"Then I guess we just make sure it's someone who we won't need later on," Squall shrugged.  
  
"Well that inspires us all to jump into the cell," Quistis drawled from the doorway leading back out of the dungeon, "Or maybe we should leave you behind!"  
  
Squall shrugged again, "Whatever."  
  
Lynne snorted, "So what's so special about that cell?"  
  
"It locks when anyone is dumb enough to cross into the cell," Zell shuddered, "An you have to have a key to get back out!"  
  
"So, do we try the cell?" Quistis looked at Squall and Seifer.  
  
"What are you planning?" Eric shifted his eyes between Squall, Siefer, and Quistis.  
  
"We thought of getting someone stuck in the cell, an then searching the room for anything that might open up a new doorway," Seifer crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
"Well, let's give it a shot!" Selphie grinned and pushed Edgar into the cell.  
  
"Hey!" Edgar fell to the ground, "What was that for?"  
  
The door swung shut with a clang. The remaining people spread about the room, repeating the process that Squall and Siefer had carried out earlier, with the same level of success. Just as the others got frustrated, and Selphie started asking where the key was, Edgar noticed a rather disturbing detail in the room.  
  
"Why are there skeletons in here?" he stared down at the offending piles of bones.  
  
"Some people died trying to get the key," Zell shrugged, "I'm sure, or they might have been left in there as a punishment of some kind. They could have been left as guardians of something else here. Who knows?"  
  
Edgar crouched down and poked the skeletons. They were rather rigid, and only one bone gave way under his finger, "Hey, are skeletons without tendons or anything supposed to have no give?"  
  
"They're supposed to be just piles of bones, not necessarily recognizable as skeletons," Xia looked through the cell door, "So only one of the bones moved?"  
  
"Yeah," Edgar pushed it again, harder. This time a wind whistle sounded through the room, and there was the sound of some large, heavy object moving a little.  
  
Quistis' eyes widened, "Try moving bones on the other skeletons!"  
  
Edgar tapped the other skeletons, finding bones that moved among the rest of the structures, which were immobile. After finding each once, he shoved at them all. Each bone produced another tone of wind, and another shift of whatever it was.  
  
"Try hitting them all at once!" Selphie suggested, "It worked last time!"  
  
"They're too far apart," Edgar shook his head, "But besides, the sound would not have seemed to progress if we were supposed to move all of them at once."  
  
"Then try playing a tune on them," Lynne laughed, "That might work."  
  
"Which one?" Edgar took him seriously, then paused, "What does it matter?" he proceeded to a simple, seven note song that sounded like the beginning of some clown act's theme song. The stone moved more, until Ariadne could see that the wall behind Edgar was what was moving, opening to reveal a long, darkened hallway.  
  
"It's behind you, Edgar!" she called out, "Someone open the door so we can all go in!"  
  
Seifer stuck the key into the lock and turned it. The door began to slide closed, but Edgar jumped through the door to get on the other side.  
  
"Eddie!" Xia gasped.  
  
"Well," Quistis blinked, "We found our door."  
~  
  
  
  
Well, I think that from here on out, the building is going to go as I want it to... You know, whoever started this mess decided to tack on rooms to the dungeon area, and I'm running away with that. So I think the floor plans are going to get a little more detailed. Depends on how long these folks intend to stop and ogle their surroundings. 


	16. Revelations

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
~  
  
  
  
Chapter 15  
  
While waiting for the others to get inside, Edgar decided to stare at the walls. After all, he didn't have much else to do. Though, the walls weren't much to stare at. Flat, gray, and undecorated. Of course, that was if you didn't want to count the drip lines all the way down to the floor from the ceiling. Edgar didn't want to think about what they were, as the answer might be worse than just the blood he thought it was. Heck, it didn't even look dry.  
  
Hearing more of the eerie wind whistle of those bones, Edgar looked toward the panel in the wall, as it slid open again. Selphie, Ariadne, and Zell stumbled through, followed by Squall and Quistis at more calm paces. The door closed behind them.  
  
"What did you think you were doing?" Ariadne stomped up to Edgar, "You could have run into some hideous, ugly, nasty, thing on this side, and we wouldn't have been able to help you!"  
  
"Nah," Zell joked, "Seifer was on the side we just came from. If anything," the bone whistling rang through the air one more time, letting Xia, Maria, Eric, Lynne, Irvine, and Seifer through, "he was the smartest of all of us, trying to get away!"  
  
"I heard that, Chicken Wuss!" Seifer snorted, "Actually it's the best joke I've heard in quite a while other than Zell Dincht!"  
  
"Why you!" Zell started for Seifer, fist pulled back.  
  
"All right you two," Maria stepped between them, and held a fist to each of their noses, though holding one to Seifer's was a stretch, "You're either acting like brothers or long-time lovers, and I don't think either of you would appreciate the treatment you'd get from either, so behave!"  
  
Both blonde men blinked at her statement, shocked.  
  
"Oh yeah," Lynne laughed, "Maria is something of a mother hen sort. Comes from having such a big family."  
  
"Not to mention having to all but act as Lynne's nurse for the last five years," Eric returned.  
  
"Can we just go?" Squall turned from the rest of the group and started down the narrow hallway.  
  
"What is his problem?" Maria muttered.  
  
"He doesn't like people," Quistis responded, walking after him, "He likes to be left alone, and when he's forced to work with others, he's quite irritable."  
  
"So why was he chosen for instructor status again?" Lynne snorted as he stalked down the passage.  
  
Catching up with the quickly moving SeeD, the others were forced to notice that the hallway was widening. Walking down the hall in groups of three, they soon discovered that there was room on either side of the small groups.  
  
The hallway started to lighten, revealing that there had once, long ago, been carvings on the walls. Various depictions of humans repeated throughout. All of them were vaguely familiar. One that appeared the most had a weapon in its hand that looked like it could be a rifle but for the fact that the barrel was too wide, and looked sharp besides. Another had a long garment covering most of its body. There was a figure with a hat, one with sticks chained to one another, and one that carried a stick in its hands. The tallest figure had claws drawn onto its hand, and one of the shortest had two thin sticks, one in each hand. There were two with whips, one with long hair trailing down its back, and another with long bangs. There were two that were apparently unarmed, and one looked to have a set of markings on its face. The other had no distinguishing features.  
  
At the end of the hall, as it opened into a room with a high ceiling, there were five new figures. One winged creature stood over the still, flat form of another, while another winged being stood in a doorway. The remaining two stood next to one another. The smaller of those two wore what appeared to be two outfits, and had a strange device attached to its arm, while the other was merely covered with feathers.  
  
The room they walked into had bodies strewn about the floor. Some were of monsters, others of humans, but all of them had one thing in common. They had been ripped apart by something.  
  
The floor was flooded with their blood, and it was so bad, that apparently, the blood had soaked to the rest of the building thought it was constructed using stone. Some of them shuddered; whatever could kill this many creatures was something they weren't sure they wanted to face.  
  
There were three doors leading out of the room, and each was crimson in color, as they were blood-soaked wood. Approaching the one on the far left, which was cracked slightly near the knob Squall gently pushed it open. It swung quietly, and revealed a room without bodies in it. Puzzled, he wandered further into the room, with Quistis holding the door open.  
  
This one room had no blood inside. Not a single drop. The walls were pale blue, with darker tapestries hanging from the rafters. A window opened into the wasteland outside. The floor was thickly carpeted with a deep green rug. There was, strangely enough, a bed inside the room. It was no more than a simple pallet on the floor, but it was the first sign of inhabitation they'd seen yet.  
  
Seifer slipped into the room behind Squall, "Welcome to what Ultimecia thought would suffice as my quarters while I was her knight," the last was said with a bitter edge, "I don't remember much between arriving, and fighting you guys, but I remember these walls well."  
  
"Do you have any idea what else is here?" Maria quietly asked him, "Any details of what's in store for us?"  
  
"Not a clue," he shook his head, "I just remember wakin' up, and bein' dragged in here, then left. I don't know if anything else is anywhere around."  
  
"So we check out the other door," Zell offered, as the three of them left the room, letting Quistis out of the doorway.  
  
The door on the far right didn't have any cracks, but swung open as easily as the other had. Inside, the decorations were much the same, only in different colors, and blood splashed. Instead of blue walls, they were a deep purple, and the tapestries were garnet in color. The rug was even thicker, and was gray, rather than green. The bed was slightly smaller, but still a pallet.  
  
"Wonder who's this was," Zell looked around quickly, "Maybe it was Matron's."  
  
"Probably," Seifer shrugged, "but then, I wouldn't know for sure."  
  
"That leaves the center door," Selphie looked at it, "Wonder if it will lead to another room?"  
  
"Probably leads to another blood-soaked hallway," Lynne shuddered, "I don't know how many more walls dripping with blood and gore I can take."  
  
Trying the door, Zell found it opened like the other two, but with a creak. Rather than another hallway, or another room, it led to a stone staircase, which climbed around in a circle.  
  
"Should we go up?" Irvine drawled, "I don't see anywhere else to go."  
  
Agreeing, the others started to climb. Though there was no railing, they didn't want to put their hands on the walls to steady themselves. After all, they were dripping as well.  
  
Just as she looked up, a drop of crimson fluid fell onto Xia's face, "Ew!" she wiped furiously at her cheek, which only smeared the stuff even further, "Watch out, the floor above us is dripping!"  
  
Taking that warning, they were only mildly surprised to find that, further up, there were bodies in the stairwell as well.  
  
"It looks like the fight slowly climbed up," Zell looked at one of the fallen creatures, it's eye sockets mere holes, and the tendons that had once held its eyes were cut sharply, "Wonder if the fight's over?"  
  
"Zell," Quistis sighed, "I hope it is, because it looks like only one creature doing the damage, and if it can kill hundreds of other creatures, then we don't stand a chance!"  
  
They reached the top of the stairway, and found another room, this time with only one door, but even more creatures lying about, in various stages of decomposition and levels of rending.  
  
A low growl caught their attention. Looking at the doorway they'd only glanced at fleetingly a second ago, they saw now a grotesque, mutilated, elongated form of a lion. It growled again, this time louder, with more of an edge, as if it were challenging them.  
  
"Oh great," Maria paled to the point that her naturally dark skin was almost as light as Squall's or Seifer's normally, "Are we going to fight that?"  
  
Squall slowly approached the creature, picking his way around the piles of bodies. Standing just beyond its reach, he inspected the creature.  
  
"Griever?" he blinked.  
  
It hissed, and stood in the doorway more fully. It then stretched out its neck, and peered closely at Squall.  
  
~Finally.~  
  
The gruff, gravelly, yet feminine voice sounded relieved.  
  
~Finally, you have made it.~  
  
~~You fool. Don't trust them blindly, they might be HER lackeys, trying to gain access.~~  
  
Another voice, deeper than the first, yet still ringing in their minds as female, growled at the other sharply.  
  
(That is why they come with guides.)  
  
"Odin," Edgar whispered, "What is going on?"  
  
((You have reached the point where the time witch first met the child you seek.))  
  
"Why does it matter to you if he lives or dies?" Squall called out, acting as though he didn't fear the larger, ragged, lioness form in front of him.  
  
~Because, as you mortals would say, he is ours.~  
  
"Huh?" Selphie yelped, "What's that mean?"  
  
~He is the only one of your kind who could call any of us, without forcing any form of subjugation upon us.~  
  
~~He is no Sorcerer, but he does not need us to use magic, as you do.~~  
  
The voice seemed resentful, and Squall tried to figure out what she could have against them, until he remembered Bahamut's twisted alter ego.  
  
"Tiamat?" Squall called out, "You're on the other side of Greiver, are you not?"  
  
~~Yessssss.~~  
  
"What happened?" Quistis asked the question, it seemed, that the four Guardians had been waiting for.  
  
The blood drenched room disappeared from their vision, being replaced with the room they'd seen on the lower floor. It was also clean, or at least, it wasn't littered with bodies.  
  
(It happened nearly a year ago.)  
  
~Let them see with their own eyes, and understand with their own minds.~  
  
The room's inhabitants argued. A tall, reddish-haired man stared evenly at a black haired woman. Much shorter than he, yet she seemed the one in control. There was a measure of respect, much like a mother trying to get her son to listen to a lecture he would later need, and he trying to tell her that he didn't need it, had already figured it out for himself.  
  
Slowly it dawned on them that the woman was Edea, and she was acting in her own power. She quickly gestured toward the door, and the man shook his head slightly, sadly. She looked at him one more time, and seemed to ask something of him, and he quietly shook his head again.  
  
"We can't hear what's being said," Lynne squinted his eyes, trying to make out the words they mouthed.  
  
~~She has her own mind, and begs him to leave, as he had come to free her, at her husbands request. He refuses to leave, knowing that would fail his mission.~~  
  
The woman froze suddenly, standing stiffly, and woodenly. The man flinched. She then relaxed some, and looked at him condescendingly. Now his posture sank as well, with resignation. She pointed a clawed finger at him, and a bolt of lightning flashed at him, but he dodged out of the way, shooting at her with the dark energy of gravity.  
  
The instant he did that, he flinched again, realizing his mistake, and she grinned. Her mouth curved into a gleeful smirk, teeth unnaturally pointed, and then she fired another spell at the man. This time, he didn't move fast enough, and found his left arm rendered useless. He dodged around the room some more, and then froze for a second. The woman looked shocked as he continued to stand there while the form of Tiamat flew into the room, and attempted to rip her to shreds, then flew upward. Just as Tiamat was about to release her Flare, the woman's form shook in apparent laughter, and she fired another unidentifiable blast at Tiamat's wings. This caused the Guardian to fall to the ground, where the man ran to her inert form, and crouched. After a second or two, he stood again, and prepared to cast another spell. The witch didn't give him the time, as she 'drew' Tiamat, and forcibly 'junctioned' the Guardian. He paled, and closed his eyes for a few seconds.  
  
~~He apologized to me for leading me into the trap. But what he didn't hear, was my apology to him for failing to save him.~~  
  
~Worry not, sister, we all failed.~  
  
The woman shook, laughing again, and prepared to blast him. This time, he stood still, and waited for the blast. But it never hit him, as a lioness appeared from the darkness, and charged in front of him. She took the blast, and was also knocked down. The man looked at the lioness and fell to the floor. This time, he held his hands out above his head, and when she 'drew' the lioness, then a shield formed over their heads. The bright blue light flickered quickly, as the strength in his arm gave out, and then disappeared entirely. The Guardian faded, and the man slumped to the ground, exhausted.  
  
Edea walked to him, apparently in control again. She knelt next to him, and gently threaded her hand through his hair. He opened his eyes, and balled one hand into a fist. Edea looked straight out, as though she knew they were being watched, and mouthed out, "When all Guardians gather in the castle that stands, ancient throughout time, and call upon the fullest force of their powers, standing free and without bindings, the key to all memories will be unlocked, and the strongest warriors will reach their utmost potential. Then, and only then, will the need for Sorceresses no longer be. Then, and only then, will the newest Sorceress be free. Then, and only then, will you again see."  
  
~  
  
  
Well..................  
  
That was fun. Not really.  
  
I still haven't figured out what's next, but I think (Don't quote me on this, please) that the next chapter will be the last. Or really close to it.  
  
~The newest 'Sorceress be free' huh. Oh great.~ 


	17. The Call

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
If anyone has been keeping track (looks at previous statement, and realizes how egotistical that must sound) I went somewhere on the 8th of March til the 10th of March, and had no access to internet, so that's why this has taken so long...  
  
~  
  
Chapter 16  
  
As if the strange prophecy hadn't been enough, the images continued to flow.   
  
Edea was taken over again, and picked the man up. Strange as it was to see the tiny, frail, woman pick up a fully-grown man, she didn't seem to struggle with his dead weight at all. She turned toward the door, and walked through it. The image flashed forward to her setting him down in the center of a room.  
  
Lynne recognized it as the one he'd seen when he'd been knocked out after going berserk. Only in proper sequence.  
  
As soon as she set the man down, the forms of Tiamat and Griever jumped from where she'd forced them as she'd 'Junctioned' them. They seemed to growl at her and began to attack her.  
  
One would swing its claws as the other tried to bite her using its head, and she ducked, dodged, swerved, and swiveled to avoid each and every hit. Finally, she went on the offensive, and used spells against them that seemed to really hurt them. The leathery-bat-winged Tiamat was pelted with blustery winds and jagged columns of earth. The furry Griever was drenched and also jabbed by uprisings of the ground. The two finally collapsed, defeated, and she laughed at them.  
  
After she finished her laughing fit, she turned to look at the youth in the center of the room. She walked toward him, and then seemed to dissipate into his head.  
  
The two Guardians stood shakily, and conversed.  
  
~We decided that I would watch the door, and Tia would stand guard over him.~  
  
~~We didn't realize that Phoenix would aid us.~~  
  
~He certainly waited long enough.~  
  
"But what do we do?" Zell blinked at the large, furred Guardian standing guard at the stone arch doorway.  
  
~You must prove that you come only to aid him.~  
  
~~Others have died trying. And even if you prove to her, you still have to prove it to me as well.~~  
  
"Somehow," Seifer looked at the corpses strewn about, "I doubt you've even had to worry about a single body."  
  
~~Exactly.~~  
  
"How do we prove it?" Lynne peered up at the lioness, "Or is that something we're supposed to figure out for ourselves?"  
  
~Smart boy.~  
  
Lynne rolled his eyes, "Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"Wait a moment," Quistis held a hand out to gain attention, "That prophecy said something about the Guardians calling out with their utmost, and being completely free. Shouldn't we release the ones we have? So they can call?"  
  
"HOW?" Selphie yelped, "We haven't been able to make contact of any kind with the ones we have attached the entire time we've been here!"  
  
"That's because they're attached," Squall snorted, "Fine," he stood still for a few seconds, concentrating.  
  
^We thank you.^  
  
The electric thought raced through the minds of everyone there.  
  
"Since that worked," Zell mimicked Squall, and this time, rather than words, a sensation of the room's temperature lowering a few degrees proved the Guardian's freedom.  
  
One by one, each person released the Force attached to their mind, and each one showed their freedom, presence, and gratitude in their own way, until all of them were free.  
  
~^Now we call.~^  
  
The voice that had earlier called to the others by shrieking through even the humans' minds returned. It was a lot calmer, and almost happy. The humans felt a mental nod in their minds, and then the large lioness in front of them stepped backward, into the room she guarded.  
  
The humans followed her into the room, and were surprised to see the rest of the Guardians standing in a loose circle around the reddish-haired man lying on the stone floor.  
  
Like Siefer's room a floor below, there was no blood on the walls, the floor, or anywhere visible. The walls however weren't gray either. They slid from color to color, fluidly, and gently. Each Guardian stood near a section corresponding either to its coloration or element. The only undecorated area of the room was the simple gray circle where the still form rested.  
  
Starting from the door, the Guardians began to call.  
  
It sounded more like singing, but the humans weren't about to say anything about it. Somewhere between pleasant and deep enough to modify heartbeat, the sounds slowly meshed into one tone, which picked up in volume, and then disappeared altogether. The first Guardian to start the call flashed into a beam of light that rested on the ceiling and the floor at the same time, and then the rest followed this example. When all were bars of light in different colors, they formed a spiral movement.  
  
Zell, not knowing why, started to walk in the pattern of the spiral, and so did Edgar and Lynne. Curious as to their behavior, Selphie, Ariadne, and Xia followed. The others just looked at them with raised eyebrows. When the first three neared the center, the urge to follow overcame Eric, Maria, and Quistis. Squall, Seifer, and Irvine just wrinkled their foreheads in confusion. Finally, Irvine gave in to curiosity, and Seifer started to edge in the same direction. Squall closed his eyes and felt the tune hum in his mind. He got so caught up in it, he didn't realize he'd started walking as well until he opened his eyes and saw the small crystal floating in the air above the still chest of the man on the floor.  
  
At that point, the lights of the Guardians all shrunk to the size of a Gil. In reverse order of the previous two changes, the lights swarmed toward the crystal. When all of them had disappeared, a single thought echoed through their minds.  
  
~~Now you prove yourself to me.~~  
~  
  
Like I said, I thought I was close, but I guess there's still at least one more chapter... 


	18. Who Is Ultimecia?

I'm not completely sure where this one will run off to, so bear with me here.  
I don't own any of the Final Fantasy 8 characters, but the six newbies are mine.   
  
Believe it or not, I did notice the request for pictures of my original characters, I just don't have them scanned yet. When I do, I will post the link.  
  
~  
  
  
Chapter 17  
  
The crystal still floated in the air, its own color fading from one end of the spectrum to the other, and back; cycling from color to color, and as it did so, each person was slightly drawn to it. With each passing color, one of the twelve found their eyes dragged to where the gem hung, suspended in the air, defying the so-called laws of gravity. As soon as the color changed, they could pull their eyes away.  
  
The string that kept it around the man's neck was a simple, heavily worn, leather cord, and looked as though it could snap with the pressure the shard of crystal exerted. Finally, while the crystal shone pink, Selphie gave into the urge, and grabbed it.  
  
She held it in the center of her hand and found it warm, as though it had been held in another's hand recently, but it obviously hadn't. A quiet mind touched hers, speaking gently into the depths of her consciousness.  
  
'Hello there.'  
  
Selphie's eyes widened.  
  
'I believe I could be called a collective consciousness. All of the Guardians melded together form a power that is almost equal to that harnessed by Ultimecia when she used the combination of Ellone's and Rinoa's powers to achieve time compression.'  
  
Since her eyes had slid shut, Selphie didn't know that the pink light that had been gently glowing when she grabbed the gem had started to strengthen rather than fade or disappear with her touch. The others were blinking at the strength of the glow, and it was only getting stronger.  
  
'Guardians have long made their strength available for human use as protection against Sorceresses gone mad, but now that is no longer needed. The newest Sorceress will find a way to have her power harnessed so that all may access it. The last Sorceress will inherit her power not from an older Sorceress dying, but from a crystal she will gain access to by accident. The results, you already know of.'  
  
Selphie's mind flooded with images she didn't even know she'd lost: her parents dying in a blizzard; the first time she'd seen Matron, meeting Quistis as a very young, distraught woman dragged the young blonde behind her, begging to have her child taken care of; finding Seifer, with Matron and Quistis, wandering the coast; Matron returning from a visit, bringing the young Zell with her, and taking them home to the orphanage from their visit to Cid's huge house; seeing a strange, cold woman yanking a child version of Irvine to his new home; and Ellone carrying her brother-by-heart, Squall, as they came to the orphanage from Winhill.  
  
She also saw Quistis and Zell getting adopted on the same day, then Irvine's adoption by a Galbadian family. She watched Ellone being taken to Esthar, and listened to Matron cry as Selphie's own new family took her away, leaving Squall and Siefer.  
  
Selphie blinked back tears, both saddened and overjoyed at all she remembered.  
  
'The Guardians had not destroyed those memories, merely displaced them. If you shove something out of your way, something else will be shifted as well, which is why so many memories vanished.'  
  
Selphie opened her eyes and released the stone. It sank for a second, and then pulled the leather string taut again as it floated. The colors again revolved back and forth, but now, there were no shades of pink in the cascade.  
  
"Selphie, what was that?" Quistis unstuck her throat to ask.  
  
"It called itself a collective consciousness," Selphie breathed, "It's what happened when all the GFs jumped into it. It gave back my memories!"  
  
"Why?" Eric stared at the maroon rock, "What has that to do with anything?"  
  
Selphie rolled her eyes, "It didn't say, but I think it has something to do with Rinoa's Sorceress powers."  
  
"She isn't even here!" Zell flared, "How can she have anything to do with this?"  
  
Ariadne gave into the urge to touch the crystal as it flowed into the orange part of the spectrum, wrapping her hand about it gently.  
  
"Ari!" Xia gasped, "Wait!"  
  
'The ones with the most daring natures will overcome their fear first.'  
  
Ariadne tried to shake her head; she didn't think she was daring.  
  
'The world has enough chatterboxes, my dear, quiet people are all together too hard to find.'  
  
Now she smiled slightly, and closed her eyes as well.  
  
'You do not have much to regain, as you had never lost greatly to start with.'  
  
Ariadne's mind flashed over moments she'd not thought of in years, such as the day her little brother had been born, when she first met Selphie, the first time she'd seen Edgar fight, and the only time she'd ever seen Xia completely lose her temper. She also remembered her first crush, and the day she'd learned that she was not only a SeeD, but was to be a SeeD instructor in a completely new Garden.  
  
With a jolt, Ariadne realized she'd returned to her real body. Reluctantly, she let go of the orange rock in her hand. It resumed its color revolution, this time skipping oranges as well.  
  
Not even pausing when it came around, Lynne snagged the gem from just in front of Ariadne just as it reached that peculiar shade of blue that is almost black.  
  
'Not going to be patient, are you?'  
  
Lynne snorted slightly, and settled on the floor.  
  
Rather than focusing on the happier memories of his life, few as they were, Lynne narrowed his mental view on the thoughts of his grandfather. Sadly he saw the old man give him the staff, warning about using it without status guarding material, as it held Berserk; then the old man lying on a bed, slowly dying away. The funeral was next, where he was the only person attending who had actually cried. Even though he wasn't looking for them, he also saw the time when he first met Eric, his wife, and their daughter; and his first encounter with Maria, and then her family.  
  
Lynne released it with a sigh, stepping away.  
  
"Something wrong?" Eric noticed the redhead's melancholy.  
  
"My grandfather did know about the status on the stick, but when I first junctioned, I lost that, and didn't know until too late."  
  
"Well at least he tried," Ariadne smiled up at him a bit, "You don't have to worry that he cared as little as the others."  
  
"Thanks," Lynne smiled, "So, is anyone else going to take a trip down memory lane?"  
  
~  
  
One by one, they all grabbed the crystal as it reached their color, not completely knowing why. When even Squall had touched it, they looked expectantly at it, as though it would do something else spectacular.  
  
But its colors faded away, and it sank back to where it had previously rested. Not even a faint echo of the Guardians shifted through the room.  
  
"What now?" Zell blinked at the others.  
  
"Well," Irvine pulled his hat off his head, ran a hand through his hair once, and smacked the hat back where it had started, "Edea's echo said somethin' about memories returnin' and then power increasin', so I guess we have to do something about that too."  
  
"She also said Sorceresses would never be needed again," Xia rolled her eyes, "And they never really were needed in the first place."  
  
"They were," Squall shook his head, "Because most people can't use magic without the Guardians. Sorceresses are needed to make sure people don't forget it even exists, since most people aren't going to junction a Guardian either."  
  
"But the Guardians were created to fight Sorceresses," Selphie blinked, "So how would they help?"  
  
"Because Guardians were meant to keep the Sorceresses in line, while the Sorceresses kept the Guardians, and all magic from being eternally forgotten," a new voice echoed through the room. They looked at the reddish-haired man who'd just sat up, "They just had to perpetuate to the point that magic was understood enough for folks to be more receptive when more 'normal' people showed their abilities with magic. Else the 'witches' and 'warlocks' would be lynched."  
  
"You're awake?" Maria yelped.  
  
"Not happily so," the man stood slowly, trying to keep his arm still, "I've been unconscious for so long, it hurts to wake up."  
  
"So why were you so special?" Eric snorted, "Why did Laguna Loire, Cid Kramer, and Esthar send us on this mission to 'start and Esthar Garden,' when it was all just a poorly disguised rescue mission?"  
  
"Nutterball weirdo," Max muttered lowly, "Seems to think that the fact that I can wear this crystal and not go utterly mad at the supposed heat it exudes makes me something special."  
  
Quistis blinked, "You mean, it's just the crystal?"  
  
"I'm not what's so important to the Guardians," he shrugged with one shoulder, "I'm just, I guess you could call it, a forerunner to the future generations."  
  
"Meaning?" Seifer raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I can use magic without the Guardians," Max looked at the taller man, "The children of your generation will be able to as well, or at least, a few will."  
  
"So what are we supposed to do," Lynne sneered, "Have our children with magic skills get together with others who can use it?"  
  
"No," Max lifted his useable hand to his face, "Leave it to nature, it's done a decent enough job as of now. However whacked you think things are."  
  
"You sound as though you are older than your file suggests," Xia crossed her arms across her chest.  
  
"Didn't you notice the question mark after the eighteen?" Max smirked, "They can't figure me out, and I'm not helping."  
  
"Somehow, this feels too easy," Quistis shuddered, "I mean, we just had to prove ourselves to two really deadly Guardians, and then regain our memories. But there was almost no fighting involved."  
  
"What, you want a knock-down, drag-out fight?" Max rolled his eyes, "You're a strange one."  
  
"Well, considering we fought Ultimecia only six months ago," Zell snorted, "Don't you think we'd be expecting a lot more trouble?"  
  
"Hn?" Max seemed genuinely shocked, "Who's Ultimecia?"  
~  
  
What's sad is, that's the end. It doesn't feel like it to me, but then again, I was expecting them to have to fight someone too... Oh well. I'll get to working on the other side of this. You know, what the summary's actually talking about? 


	19. Post(it) Notes

Post(it) Notes...  
  
Okay, I've seen at least one person mention the fact that this didn't seem like too good an ending, and I don't blame ya... I was rather shocked when Max asked "Who is Ultimecia?" and my muse promptly told me the story was done... Right now, I'm just trying to get him to start on the followup story.  
  
I have questions that I want answered, so I'm rather hoping that the sequel for 'Recovery' will do so (Isn't it sad when even the AUTHOR has questions?)  
  
1. Why didn't Rinoa ever show up?  
2. What is the importance of the crystal?  
3. How are they going to bind/combine Rin's powers?  
4. Why didn't they have to fight anything/anyone after proving themselves to the two guardians?  
5. Why was Max so important? (I still don't get it, and my muse hasn't filled me in on it yet...)  
6. Are we going to learn more about the characters? (More specifically the newbies, but the others too.)  
7. If Edea disappeared into Max's head, how did she fight the kids?  
8. Why wasn't she still there when they found Max?  
9. What was the dimension thing all about?  
  
Um.. yeah, I've got a bunch of questions... Anyone wanna add some?  
  
  
I'll try to get started on the next story soon, and I have the pictures uploaded. They can be found in the following way:  
  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/ariadne.jpg ,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/maria.jpg ,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/edgar.jpg ,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/xia.jpg ,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/lynne.jpg ,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/eric.jpg ,  
and if you wanna see the Max they saw,  
thao5.tripod.com/galleries/mydraws/maxver4.jpg.  
  
No, I'm not all that good... (shrugs) 


End file.
